Both the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee say they will support the nomination of Julie Myers to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security.
With Lieberman and Collins both supporting Myers nomination, the nation’s chief immigration and smuggling enforcement officer wins the patina of bipartisanship. This will make it more difficult — though by new means impossible — for senators like Claire McCaskill of Missouri to rally enough opposition to block her nomination.
With so many other administration targets in the sights of the Democratic Senate, the Majority Leader will have to decide whether opposing Myers is worth the distraction and energy and potential risk of painting the Democratic-controlled Senate as more obstructionist than concerned with homeland security.
