17 Facts About Kevin McAleenan

Kevin Kealoha McAleenan was born on September 5,1971 and is an American attorney and government official who served as the acting United States secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019.

President Donald Trump designated Kevin McAleenan as Acting United States Secretary of Homeland Security in April 2019.

Kevin McAleenan resigned on October 11,2019, with Trump saying McAleenan wanted to "spend more time with his family and go to the private sector".

Kevin McAleenan was born on September 5,1971, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother of Finnish descent and a father of Irish descent.

Kevin McAleenan practiced law in the private sector from 1998 until 2001, when terrorist attacks that September motivated him to apply to work for the FBI.

Kevin McAleenan was recruited to help start up the new CBP Office of Antiterrorism, eventually becoming its executive director.

In 2011 Kevin McAleenan became the assistant commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations.

Kevin McAleenan served as deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017.

Kevin McAleenan served as acting commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection from January 2017 to March 20,2018.

President Donald Trump nominated Kevin McAleenan to assume the position of commissioner in a permanent capacity in May 2017.

Kevin McAleenan advocated for the implementation of the Trump administration's "Zero Tolerance" policy on immigration, including the prosecution of parents and the separation of children from their families.

In September 2018, Kevin McAleenan told the USA Today editorial board he planned to spend more time "analyzing ways to modernize border patrol facilities" and intended to travel to the southwest United States, where most of the migrant children were being held.

On June 28,2019, Kevin McAleenan criticized media reports of conditions for detained migrants at the United States-Mexico border.

President Trump designated Kevin McAleenan as Acting United States Secretary of Homeland Security on April 8,2019, following Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation.

At the time, Alan Bersin, a former assistant Homeland Security secretary for international affairs and former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner who had worked closely with Kevin McAleenan, opined that he did his job effectively as a professional public servant in three administrations, Republican and Democrat, but his undoing had been the polarizing environment and a lack of White House support.

In 2005, Kevin McAleenan received the Service to America Medal, Call to Service Award for his leadership and help in developing and implementing a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy for border security after September 11,2001.

In 2015, Kevin McAleenan was awarded the Presidential Rank Award, the highest civil service award in the United States.