Top Biden migration adviser to step down in January: report

President Biden’s senior adviser on migration is leaving her post at the end of January after nearly seven months on the job, according to a new report. 

The departure of Tyler Moran, reported by Politico Monday, is the latest staffing change at the White House — though an administration official told the outlet Moran never had any intention of staying beyond the end of Biden’s first year in office.

Moran was named deputy assistant to the president and senior adviser for migration in July after the departure of Amy Pope, who was herself meant to serve in the role as a temporary replacement for Roberta Jacobson.

Jacobson, a former US ambassador to Mexico, stepped down from her role as Biden’s “border czar” in early April, weeks after the president tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration’s response to the ongoing migration crisis at the US-Mexico frontier.

“Tyler has been an invaluable member of our team since the transition and a tremendous asset in our effort to rebuild a fair and humane immigration system,” Susan Rice, Biden’s chief domestic policy adviser, told Politico in a statement.

President Biden's senior adviser for migration, Tyler Moran, is set to leave her post after only seven months on the job
President Biden’s senior adviser for migration, Tyler Moran, is set to leave her post after just seven months on the job.
MSNBC

In addition to the departures of Jacobson, Pope and now Moran, Politico reported that a handful of mid-and-low-level aides have left the White House team overseeing migration and the border.

There is currently no replacement for Moran in the pipeline. However, the White House is reportedly confident they will find someone within the next six weeks.  

Moran previously worked in the Obama administration as the deputy policy director for immigration and also served as a top policy adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Moran’s departure follows a series of exits in Harris’ office.

Migrants are pulled across the Rio Grande by human smugglers while crossing the US-Mexico border on rafts in Roma, Texas on July 8, 2021
In October 2021, more than 164,000 migrants were apprehended — more than double the number of stops in October of last year.
AFP via Getty Images

Most recently, chief spokeswoman Symone Sanders announced her departure, along with director of press operations Peter Velz and deputy director of public engagement Vince Evans.

Harris communications director Ashley Etienne also announced she was leaving her post last month.

The White House has sought to downplay the departures, calling them “natural.” 

“Working in the first year of a White House is exciting and rewarding but it’s also grueling and exhausting,” press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this month.

“If you look at past precedent, it’s natural for staffers who have thrown their heart and soul into a job to be ready to move on to a new challenge after a few years and that is applicable to many of these individuals. It’s also an opportunity as it is in any White House to bring in new faces, new voices and new perspectives.”

Moran’s departure also comes as illegal immigration numbers remain stubbornly high. In October of this year, the most recent month for which statistics are available, just over 164,000 migrants were apprehended — more than double the number of stops in October of last year and more than three times the number of encounters in October 2019.

source: nypost.com