Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told CNN on Wednesday he has urged President Donald Trump to keep Lee Francis Cissna in his position as the top official at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but would "accept" his decision not to.
"I know the president's goals on immigration are the same as mine, pretty much the same as mine I would say, and that the president's gotta have people in place who will do his job, and since his goals are the same as mine, I'm gonna have to accept it," Grassley said.
Trump's ousting of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the weekend has some Republicans concerned about the direction of the department and illegal immigration in the U.S. as the number of immigrants crossing the border continues to rise.
Grassley on Tuesday told The Washington Post he was "very, very concerned" Cissna could be the next to go.
"One, those are good public servants," Grassley said. "Secondly, besides the personal connection I have with them and the qualifications they have, they are the intellectual basis for what the president wants to accomplish in immigration.
"The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he's made for his campaign, throughout his two and a half years of presidency. He's pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal."
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