On Monday, November 18, it was announced that Ken Cuccinelli would no longer serve as the Acting Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a post which he has held for the last five months. At the time of publishing, according to the Department of Homeland Security website, Mr. Cuccinelli is now performing the duties of the DHS Deputy Secretary.
Mark Koumans, who has served as the deputy director of USCIS since May, assumed the director role effective Monday. As previously reported, Koumans has also served as Acting Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner, Operations Support for the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Assistant Commissioner for International Affairs, CBP, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at DHS Office of Policy. Before joining DHS, Koumans served in the U.S. Foreign Service for 17 years.
In recent days, these are two of the leadership changes at DHS and USCIS. Other changes include the appointment of Chad Wolf as acting DHS secretary on Wednesday, November 13. Following Cuccinelli’s USCIS departure and Koumans’ promotion, Kathy Nuebel Kovarik is now the acting deputy director.