FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2020, file photo, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s acting head of the Department of Homeland Security abruptly resigned Monday, leaving the post ahead of schedule as the nation faces a heightened terrorism threat from extremists seeking to reverse the election. The announcement by acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was perplexing. Peter Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will serve as acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until the Biden administration takes over. Trump appointed Wolf acting secretary in November 2019, following the resignation of Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary who took over following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Documents in the report suggest Health and Human Services officials weren't told by the Department of Homeland Security why shelters were receiving more children taken from their parents in late 2017. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released the report Thursday with emails obtained from government agencies. The report outlines discussions since the start of the Trump administration of family separation as a law enforcement tactic. Documents in the new report suggest CBP did not communicate with HHS about why shelters were receiving more separated children. The email notes “the increase in referrals” of children unaccompanied by a parent “resulting from separation of children from parents.” White sent McAleenan a chart of all the children HHS had received.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White found Kevin McAleenan improperly leapfrogged to acting secretary when Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019. The Homeland Security and Justice departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency with Homeland Security that awards citizenship, green cards and temporary work permits, said it was reviewing the decision. Eight advocacy groups sued the administration in August after Homeland Security published a final version of the fee hikes, incorporating public feedback. McAleenan initially proposed the hikes in November in one of his last acts as acting secretary.

WASHINGTON – A whistleblower's complaint and a tight timeline are making it increasingly unlikely that the Senate will confirm Chad Wolf as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before the election. President Donald Trump formally sent the nomination late Thursday to the Senate after announcing his intention to appoint Wolf in a tweet last month. But the full Senate is unlikely to hold a confirmation vote before the election, said two Republican aides granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Trump appointed Wolf acting secretary in November 2019, following the resignation of Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary who took over following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “Their toxic and unethical actions are wholly incompatible with the non-partisan mission of the Department of Homeland Security,” he said.

Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to examine Department of Homeland Security personnel deployments to recent protests on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, in Washington. (Toni Sandys/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will nominate acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to the top spot in the agency. I am pleased to inform the American Public that Acting Secretary Chad Wolf will be nominated to be the Secretary of Homeland Security, Trump tweeted. Wolf was named acting secretary in November 2019 after Trump removed his predecessor, acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan after six months in the post leading an agency that has the third largest budget in the federal government. The nomination comes amid uncertainty over whether Wolf, as well as acting deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, has been legally entitled to hold the top job at DHS.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security since April and the fourth person to serve in that post since the Trump presidency began, submitted his resignation to the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump announced Friday. "Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. I will be announcing the new Acting Secretary next week. A source close to the process told CNN that White House officials tried to talk McAleenan out of resigning. Still, the acting secretary has been able to point to concrete accomplishments.

CNN imageMENLO PARK, Calif. - US Attorney General William Barr and senior government officials from the UK and Australia are formally asking Facebook to give up on its plan to encrypt user messages across its platforms. The encryption debate, which pits tech companies that want to ensure user communications are private and secure against law enforcement's desire to access such messages, is decades old. "We respect and support the role law enforcement has in keeping people safe," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN. "We strongly oppose government attempts to build backdoors because they would undermine the privacy and security of people everywhere." 'It would fundamentally compromise the security and privacy of encrypted communications on Facebook."

DHS public affairs Assistant Secretary Andrew Meehan decided to resign two weeks ago and his last day will be Sept. 20, according to a DHS official. WASHINGTON (CNN) - A senior official in the Department of Homeland Security will leave the agency next month, marking the latest top DHS official to leave the administration in recent months. DHS public affairs Assistant Secretary Andrew Meehan decided to resign two weeks ago and his last day will be Sept. 20, according to a DHS official. Meehan has been a close confidant of acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, joining him at DHS headquarters to run the public affairs office. Meehan, who also oversaw public affairs at Customs and Border Protection, is the latest public affairs official expected to leave the department.

(CNN) - The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a proposal to detain undocumented families together indefinitely, replacing the agreement that set a 20-day limit for holding children, with President Donald Trump saying it would discourage migrants from coming to the US. Trump said Wednesday that he's concerned about the number of undocumented children attempting to travel into the United States, arguing the new rule would keep families together. Lawsuits and Democratic oppositionThe regulation is certain to face legal challenges and must also be examined by the judge who oversees the Flores settlement. "This is yet another cruel attack on children, who the Trump administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies," said Madhuri Grewal, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. Democratic lawmakers blasted the proposal, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying, "the cruelty of the Trump administration knows no bounds."

CNN VideoMcALLEN, Texas (CNN) - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says conditions at a Texas border detention facility are inhumane.Schumer and a group of other Democratic senators, including Oregon senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, toured the facility in McAllen on Friday. "It's been a very, very difficult day to see these people, particularly the children, treated in such inhumane conditions. (It) just tears at your heart strings and really makes you feel awful, Schumer said. They let us see whatever we wanted to see but we were told that they tried to make things look better. But even with that, it's awful the conditions that these people are placed in."

The Secret Service's annual Mass Attacks in Public Spaces report, released Tuesday, says almost all of the alleged criminals in 27 mass attacks last year had experienced a major stressor in their lives. The report found three attacks happened in Florida, pointing to the mass shooting at the Jacksonville Landing, the school shooting in Parkland and a yoga studio shooting in Tallahassee. The report was published by the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center. McAleenan said the Secret Service has a "unique capability" in helping prevent mass attacks because the agency has the most experience in protecting public spaces. Alathari said the study's findings can help encourage the public to report concerning behavior or threats.

(CNN) - Pediatricians shared disturbing images drawn by migrant children who were recently separated from their parents while in US Customs and Border Protection custody. The staff at the center asked the children to depict their time in CBP custody. McAleenan, who is now acting secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, requested the meetings after two children died in CBP custody. A pediatrician caring for migrant children at an El Paso hospital said CBP's screening for children in its custody is "absolutely and unequivocally inadequate." He said other doctors would disagree with the AAP pediatricians about the health conditions for migrant children.

(CNN) - US Border Patrol apprehensions along the southern border dropped in June for the first month since January, according to preliminary internal data obtained by CNN. There were nearly 95,000 apprehensions on the US-Mexico border last month, down about 28% from 132,887 in May -- the highest month in more than a decade. Despite the drop, this June was much higher than the same time last year, when there were 34,089 apprehensions. The numbers are in line with forecasts from acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who said Friday that it appeared there would be a 25% decrease in June numbers of migrants crossing at the US-Mexico border. The numbers come amid public outcry over reports that migrant children were held under poor health and hygiene conditions at multiple Border Patrol locations in Texas.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(CNN) - The FBI has seen a significant rise in the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases in recent months, a senior FBI counterterrorism official said Thursday. The domestic terror cases generally include suspects involved in violence related to anti-government views, racial or religious bias, environmental extremism and abortion-related views. The FBI wouldn't provide specific numbers to quantify the increase of in the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases. Unlike international terrorism investigations, domestic terrorism cases pose thornier issues for the FBI because of First Amendment protections. The US doesn't have a domestic terrorism law and no government agency designates domestic groups as being terrorist organizations.

(CNN) - Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders is resigning, he said in a message sent to agency employees Tuesday, amid the dramatic increase in the number of undocumented migrants crossing the border and a fight over how to address it. Sanders assumed the post after Kevin McAleenan, the former commissioner, moved up to fill the role of acting Department of Homeland Security secretary in the wake of Kirstjen Nielsen's ouster this spring. In his role, Sanders has overseen the agency charged with protecting the nation's border at a time when illegal crossings have hit record levels. When I began this journey, Commissioner McAleenan charged me with aligning the mission support organizations and accelerating his priorities. My hope is you build upon your accomplishments and embrace new opportunities, remain flexible, and continue to make CBP extraordinary.