White House considers Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke for post in Homeland Security
Officials in the President Donald Trump administration are considering Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. for a job with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Clarke is to be appointed as assistant secretary at the department's Office of Partnership and Engagement where he would coordinate outreach to state and local law enforcement agencies, Politico, an online news company, reported Friday. The position of assistant secretary does not require Senate confirmation.
On Friday, sources confirmed that news of the possible appointment is coming out now because Trump officials recently completed their background check of the sheriff. Trump staffers are a few steps away from making the appointment. One source said it could take more than a month to finish the process.
"It wouldn't be for a while," the source said. "Nothing's imminent."
Clarke has said in the past that it would be hard to turn down the president if he asks the sheriff to join the administration.
Sources close to the sheriff have said for months that Trump officials have been interested in appointing Clarke to serve as the administration's liaison to the law enforcement community. Those sources said if Clarke landed such a job, he would speak out on police-related matters.
On Friday, Clarke was in Atlanta speaking at a leadership conference for the National Rifle Association, a group that helped him win re-election in 2014. He did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
In his speech Friday, Clarke told the gun-rights activists: "You see, our fight for freedom continues in earnest," according to a report on The Washington Times website. "You see, these rat bastards on the left never give up."
"Election defeats don't matter to them," he said.They will continue "their assault on our Constitution, the rule of law, liberty and American exceptionalism."
Clarke, who campaigned across the country for Trump, was passed over for the cabinet-level job of heading the Department of Homeland Security. Trump picked retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly to lead the agency.
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The Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of 9/11. The department's duties range from counter-terrorism to enforcing immigration laws.
This week, Kelly announced the creation of a new office of Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office within the department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The office was launched to support victims of crimes committed by "criminal aliens," Kelly said.
Friday was the fifth day of an inquest into the death of a Milwaukee County Jail inmate in April 2016. Terrill Thomas, 38, died of dehydration in a solitary confinement cell seven days after water to the cell was shut off.
His untreated bipolar disorder rendered him incapable of asking for help.
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Clarke has not commented publicly about the details of the case.
On Wednesday, the Voces de la Frontera immigrants rights organization asked Gov. Scott Walker to remove Clarke from office because of the death of Thomas in the jail.
Representatives of the group said they delivered to Walker petitions with more than 10,000 signatures of Wisconsin residents urging the governor to use his authority under state law to remove county elected officials for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, official misconduct, or malfeasance in office."
Walker said he would not remove Clarke from the elected post and suggested voters should make that decision.
Clarke is up for re-election in November of 2018 and has not publicly stated whether he will seek re-election.
Clarke has described Voces de la Frontera as a "slimy pro-illegal immigration organization."