Report: Kelly clashed with WH over staffing decisions

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is clashing with the White House over staffing decisions, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening.

Kelly has been unable to name his preferred deputy, the paper said, leaving the department without a second-in-command amid the chaos of implementing President Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees.

{mosads}Kelly reportedly fought the White House on naming Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to the role.

The WSJ reported that Kelly was further frustrated by not being looped in on the travel ban, which prevented him from preparing his agency’s response.

Trump signed the order on Friday, but Kelly was only informed of the details that day, as he was traveling to Washington. 

Kobach was an early Trump supporter and was part of his transition team on immigration, thrusting him into the national spotlight and sparking speculation he might be the DHS pick.

Kobach was the principal author of Arizona’s strict immigration law, several pieces of which were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012. Over the summer, he drafted planks of the GOP’s national platform regarding immigration policy. During the 2012 election, he advised presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the concept of “self-deportation.”