Sources tell POLITICO that Democratic senators have been unable to secure a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. | Getty Senate Democrats denied immigration meeting with Kelly

For more than two weeks, a group of Democratic senators has privately sought a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to press him on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

That meeting has yet to materialize, according to Democratic sources — even as the DHS chief heads to Capitol Hill on Friday to field questions from House Democrats about the same tactics.


Instead, DHS offered a meeting with Thomas Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Kevin McAleenan, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, according to two sources and emails obtained by POLITICO that detail the Democrats’ attempts to secure a meeting with Kelly.

DHS acting deputy assistant secretary David Lapan responded that the department has been working with the offices of Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Claire McCaskill of Missouri to arrange a sit-down between Kelly and senators. The group of Democrats includes 16 senators who closely follow immigration policy, according to one of the sources.

"There has been no refusal to meet," Lapan said in an e-mail. "The secretary looks forward to meeting with House members tomorrow and senators once the meetings are scheduled."

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Trump administration has enacted new policies that give immigration enforcement officials broad discretion to arrest and deport immigrants in the United States illegally, as well as legal immigrants with criminal records. But the new administration’s crackdown has alarmed immigrant-rights activists and Democratic lawmakers.

The caucus-wide meeting with House Democrats on Friday is the group's first meeting with a Trump Cabinet official, although that confab isn't arriving without its own controversies. A small group of about a dozen House Republicans and Democrats met privately with Homan in mid-February. But that meeting with the acting ICE head occurred after he canceled a meeting with House Democrats, with the lawmakers being told that Republicans needed to be represented.

When the briefing was rescheduled, some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — which had initially requested the ICE sit-down — were kicked out or not allowed in to the meeting.