A conservative watchdog has unveiled a list of “radical leftist” officials working in or with the Department of Homeland Security — as immigration and the crisis at the southern border remain a top issue on the ballot this presidential election.
The American Accountability Foundation launched a website Wednesday titled “The DHS Watchlist” featuring over two dozen individuals it deems “radical leftist” bureaucrats who are potentially poised to remain as holdovers from the Biden-Harris administration.
“We created DHSWatchlist.com to shine a light on the swamp’s darkest corners. No longer will these radicals be able to hide in anonymity,” American Accountability Foundation president Thomas Jones told The Post.
“Dozens of more names will be added over the coming weeks.”
Here is a sampling of the groups’ findings.
Official who posted TikTok videos promoting illegal immigrants
One official in AAF’s crosshairs is Wilson Osorio, an associate counsel at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) whom the group found posting TikTok videos and other social media content praising illegal immigrants.
“Undocumented immigrants play an important role in U.S. infrastructure,” one TikTok post from Osorio unearthed by AAF said, citing a family from El Salvador. “I was also told that despite not having papers, they pay their taxes to Uncle Sam.”
Osorio previously worked as an immigration counsel to Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) team on the Senate Judiciary Committee. His salary is listed as $171,268.
Immigration judge who defended violent immigrant
Andrea Saenz, an immigration judge in the US Justice Department who had been plucked from the Brooklyn Public Defenders Services, had defended an immigrant accused of preying upon children in 2020.
She represented Braulio Duran Acevedo, who is from Mexico but lived in the US as a lawful resident and was convicted “in 2015 of attempted oral or anal sexual conduct with a person under age 15.”
A Bernie backer who coached migrants to gain US entry
Another associate counsel at USCIS, Rebecca Swaintek-Green made AAF’s list over her past advocacy for migrants. She had donated almost $100 to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2016 campaign, per donation records flagged by AAF.
Swaintek-Green had written a piece for DrexelLaw Review that ripped into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s handling of migrants with mental illnesses. While in law school back in 2019, she went on a trip to help help migrants in El Paso gain entry into the US.
She also disparaged the migration detention policies under the Trump administration.
“Under the Obama administration, ICE made changes to improve this dismal situation for detained migrants,” she wrote in the 2019 piece. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration has reversed course and is instead looking to open more detention space to detain more migrants.”
Policy analyst with a history of liberal activism
Kursten Phelps, a policy analyst at USCIS’ Office of Policy and Strategy, donated to a plethora of Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Phelps previously worked for Tahirih Justice Center, which provides services for immigrant women, and the American Bar Association. Her current salary is $141,192.
During a panel session in 2021, she claimed that “immigration is part of a white supremacy rubric.” Earlier this year on LinkedIn, she boasted about USCIS implementing a “third gender option” on its forms.
Official who worked to subvert Trump administration asylum policies
John Lafferty, the chief of the Asylum Division, Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate in USCIS clashed with the Trump administration and drew the ire of former White House adviser Stephen Miller.
“Lafferty is clearly a key cog in the Biden Administration’s asylum-granting machine. Lafferty was such a problem during the Trump Administration that he has already been removed from the job once before,” AAF wrote.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Lafferty also spearheaded “Operation Allies Welcome,” a program intended to help Afghan refugees gain admittance into the US in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Participant in defunct ‘disinformation’ board
Another Department of Homeland Security official who made the list had been part of the Biden-Harris administration’s since-defunct “Disinformation Governance Board.”
Daniel Delgado, the acting deputy assistant secretary for immigration policy, had been tagged in emails from the director of the board, according to publicly released emails via the Freedom of Information Act.
AAF also flagged his donations to Hillary Clinton, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during their presidential campaigns. He’s also made posts on social media for causes championed by the left such as DC statehood. His salary is $160,889.
AAF’s newly unveiled website was bankrolled in part by the Heritage Foundation, which has been advocating and planning for a future Republican administration via its Project 2025, an initiative that collaborated with over 100 conservative groups.
Democrats have seized upon Project 2025 as a boogeyman and Trump has distanced himself from the program’s roughly 900-page plan — stressing that he will chart his own path if he wins the White House.
AAF has included a tip line on its new website and plans to update the list over time.
