The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
has approved the nomination of Julie Myers to head the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The committee voted seven to two — or nine to six counting
the proxy vote of absent senators — in favor of the
nomination after Democrats had voiced opposition. It will
now go to the Judiciary Committee, which requested a referral.
Ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., issued a
statement praising the nominee’s caliber but that called
into question whether her management experience was
sufficient to run bureau and its 20,000-plus employees.
“I do not believe that Ms. Myers meets the explicit
requirement of the Homeland Security Act, stated in the
law, that she has five years of management experience,”
Lieberman said.
The nomination comes not long after Michael Brown was
removed as the head of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and his credentials were widely questioned in the
wake of the government’s problematic response to Hurricane
Katrina.
“I also would like to say that the nominee has virtually
no immigration experience, which I also consider a serious
requirement for this position,” Lieberman said, adding
that Myers has not held any management job for over one
year and nothing on the scale of ICE.
“The head of ICE should be an individual who has demonstrated
extensive executive level leadership and the ability to
manage a budget through reorganizations and budget cycles –
experience already in hand to do the job,” said Sen/ Daniel
K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, a committee member.
