Rubio lays out detailed plan to restructure State Department to focus on Trump’s priorities

The US State Department on Thursday formally told Congress it intends to make sweeping changes to focus on the Trump administration’s priorities including reducing immigration to the US and promoting the administration’s worldview, with less emphasis on protecting and promoting human rights across the globe.

The US State Department on Thursday formally told Congress it intends to make sweeping changes to focus on the Trump administration’s priorities, including reducing immigration to the US and promoting the administration’s worldview, with less emphasis on protecting and promoting human rights across the globe. The proposed overhaul was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in April. Thursday’s more than 100 page long congressional notification lays out further details on the plan, which includes scores of office closures and mergers, renaming and restructuring offices, and firing staff at the headquarters in Washington, DC. It comes as the US State Department finalizes its plans to subsume the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and amid broader cuts throughout the federal government. “The plan submitted to Congress was the result of thoughtful and deliberative work by senior Department leadership,” Rubio said in a statement. “We have taken into account feedback from lawmakers, bureaus, and long-serving employees. The reorganization plan will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world.” The congressional notification – a copy of which was obtained by CNN – proposes an increased focus on migration and the border, rather than refugees, at the State Department. The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration’s “existing migration functions will be consolidated into three new functional offices under a (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State) for Migration Matters.” “Reflecting core Administration priorities, these offices will be substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the Administration’s efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,” it states. One of those “functional offices” will be called the Office of Remigration and will be a “hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking.”