A Trump administration immigration official who had once led a group that had been labeled a hate group has resigned, according to a Monday email from Acting Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan.
He told DHS staffers that Julie Kirchner, ombudsmen for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since 2017, tendered her resignation to President Donald Trump this week, BuzzFeed News reports.
The reason for Kirchner's resignation was not immediately clear, according to BuzzFeed. She was under consideration in April to head USCIS after Kirstjen Nielsen stepped down as DHS secretary.
Michael Dougherty, assistant secretary for border, immigration, and trade policy, will be taking over the ombudsman role, according to the report.
Kirchner had most recently been executive director of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which seeks stricter limits on immigration to the U.S.
She had worked for the group for nearly a decade in various capacities.
FAIR, founded in 1979, has been designated a hate group and "America's most influential anti-immigrant organization" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group has denied the classification.
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