Report: Perry Floated To Replace Kelly As Homeland Security Secretary

Energy Secretary-designate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, prior to testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resou... Energy Secretary-designate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, prior to testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump is considering Secretary of Energy Rick Perry as a potential replacement for former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, whom Trump installed as White House chief of staff Monday, according to a Bloomberg report.

The White House is pondering others for the position as well, and though Perry “loves what he’s doing,” he was reportedly “honored to be mentioned,” a spokesperson for the Department of Energy told Bloomberg.

Kelly is a retired Marine Corps general who was a strong supporter of Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall plan and made swift moves to fortify immigration enforcement efforts in his short tenure.

As the former governor of Texas, Perry is familiar with border issues and has previously supported some type of physical barrier across the border. He has also taken a less-hardline stance on some immigration issues, like supporting legislation that would let children of undocumented immigrants pay in-state tuition for college.

Perry recently made headlines for falling for a fake interview with two Russian pranksters who posed as the prime minister of Ukraine.

While Kelly sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing with an 88-11 vote, Democrats have been disappointed by Kelly’s robust increase in deportations that have split up families, pushing some to think Senate Democrats won’t let the next secretary of homeland security slip through quite as easily.

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