REPORT: Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney Set to Depart Trump Administration After Immigration Defection

Feb 24, 2020

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 17: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney answers questions during a briefing at the White House October 17, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mulvaney answered a range of questions relating to the issues surrounding the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Donald Trump, and other issues during the briefing. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

New reports indicate White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is preparing to depart the Trump administration after undermining the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, claiming the United States is “desperate” for more immigration.

Mulvaney made the remarks when speaking to an audience of well-connected political elites at a private event in England. Soon after they were reported on by the Washington Post, Mulvaney was heavily criticized by Trump supporters for endorsing policy one might expect to see promoted by longtime anti-Trumpers such as George Soros and Charles Koch.

The report of Mulvaney’s departure first surfaced in Ryan Girdusky’s populist newsletter. Mulvaney is said to be lining up a new gig in the world of Washington, D.C conservative think tanks.

Mulvaney’s departure, which Girdusky claims to have been informed of by three sources, would represent a victory for ‘MAGA’ conservatives within Trump administration, who have blasted the former Republican congressman for wildly diverging from President Donald Trump’s pro-American immigration platform.

President Trump ran on a platform of lowering annual levels of legal immigration, going on to waffle on the issue in a few presidential speeches since becoming President. Immigration totals have declined under his administration, and many economists have pointed to rising wages for working-class Americans as a benefit of the restrictionist platform.

A takedown from Tucker Carlson, who accused the former anti-Trumper (Mulvaney was caught on tape admitting he viewed Trump as a “terrible human being” in 2016) of carelessness for Donald Trump’s core base of supporters, may have proved instrumental in spurring Mulvaney’s tentative departure from the administration.

Mulvaney’s exit from the administration would represent one of two major victories for immigration hawks within the Trump administration in the past week. The new ‘public charge’ rule, which restricts access to welfare programs, food stamps and Medicaid to American citizens, entered into effect Monday.