(Tom Brenner | The New York Times) Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, speaks to reporters following a television interview on Sept. 26, 2019, at the White House in Washington. He faced blowback on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019, after saying the man accused of stabbing five Orthodox Jews in New York was the son of an "illegal alien" and came from a family lacking "American values."