Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary in the midst of soaring illegal immigration levels and an expanded Catch and Release policy under her direction.

On Sunday, President Trump wrote online that Nielsen would be leaving her position as head of DHS.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2019

….I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary for @DHSgov. I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2019

Nielsen’s resignation as DHS secretary comes amid a surge of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and an expanded Catch and Release policy that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has been tasked with carrying out.

During Nielsen’s tenure as DHS secretary, illegal immigration has increased nearly every month over the last year and a half. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has yet to construct a border wall on new land at the southern border that did not previously have barriers built by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Most recently, officials with the National ICE Council accused Nielsen of “grossly” mismanaging DHS and failing to acknowledge that the agency had been operating an expanded Catch and Release policy for border crossers and illegal aliens for months.

As Breitbart News chronicled, Nielsen previously served in the Bush administration overseeing a crisis team following the destruction of New Orleans, Louisiana, by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Bush administration had waved federal regulations to allow an unlimited level of illegal immigration into the Gulf Coast to take low-skill jobs rebuilding the region. Nielsen previously chaired a World Economic Forum committee that authored a report praising mass migration into Europe. For her confirmation process to DHS, Nielsen worked with an assortment of allies that worked vigorously in the 2016 presidential election to oppose Trump, including Frances Townsend and Tom Ridge.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.