Kenneth Thomas "Cooch” Cuccinelli II (/ˌkuːtʃɪˈnɛli/ KOO-chin-EL-ee; born July 30, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021.

A self-described opponent of homosexuality, Cuccinelli in his position as Virginia Attorney General defended anti-sodomy laws and prohibitions on same-sex marriage.

[4] He attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1986,[5] and received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a J.D.

[15] In 2010, Cuccinelli was the first attorney general to file a federal lawsuit (Virginia v. Sebelius) challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

[17] In July 2010, Cuccinelli joined eight other states in filing an amicus brief opposing the federal government's lawsuit challenging an Arizona immigration enforcement statute.

[20] In 2010, Cuccinelli sought judicial review of the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gasses endanger public health.

[21] In 2012, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Cuccinelli's arguments.

[22] In 2010, Cuccinelli announced he would challenge the March 2010 standards for motor vehicle fuel efficiency specified in the Clean Air Act.

[26][27] On August 30, 2010, Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that "the nature of the conduct is not stated so that any reasonable person could glean what Dr. Mann did to violate the statute.

[36] In 2010, Cuccinelli called on Virginia universities to remove "'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly".

[42] On November 24, 2010, Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion that police, school administrators, and teachers could search students' cell phones on the basis of reasonable suspicions in order to deter cyberbullying and "sexting".

In a letter to the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, the House committee chairs allege that the brief appointment to "Principal Deputy Director" had been retroactively applied, possibly in violation of the law.

[68] On March 1, 2020, US District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss ruled that Cuccinelli was not lawfully appointed to serve as acting director and therefore lacked authority to issue two of the directives challenged in the lawsuit.

Because the case was not filed as a class action, Moss was "unconvinced" that his relief should be extended to other asylum seekers not part of the original suit.

[72] He said, "The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because those folks, that father didn't want to wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion, so decided to cross the river".

[73] On August 12, 2019, Cuccinelli announced a revised regulation, to go into effect October 15, 2019, expanding the public charge requirements for legal immigration.

Green cards and visas can be denied if people are likely to need federal, state and local government benefits including food stamps, housing vouchers and Medicaid.

When asked whether this change contradicted the poem welcoming the impoverished and persecuted engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, Cuccinelli offered a revision, "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."

The original poem, Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus", states "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

[78] On March 1, 2020, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Cuccinelli's appointment as USCIS director was illegal because the newly created principal deputy director role did not count as a "first assistant" under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 because he had never served in a subordinate role to any other USCIS official.

[84] On August 14, 2020, the Government Accountability Office issued a decision confirming that his appointment as Acting Deputy Secretary illegal on this basis.

At the time, many universities were considering online-only models or hybrid in-person/online classes in order to safeguard the health of students and staff, as well as to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

[89] That same month, Cuccinelli defended the deployment of federal agents dressed in camouflage and tactical gear to Portland, Oregon, where they picked up protestors and took them into unmarked vehicles.

[93] Another whistleblower complaint, filed February 1, 2021, asserted that on January 19, 2021, the day before Biden's inauguration, Cuccinelli signed an agreement with the union representing ICE agents which essentially gives the agents the power to determine policy, by requiring prior written consent from the union before any change to policies and functions that affect them can take effect.

[95] In 2023, Cuccinelli authored the chapter on the Department of Homeland Security in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.

[102] As a state senator, he advanced legislation to make abortion clinics subject to the same health and safety standards as outpatient surgical hospitals.

[115] In 2006, Cuccinelli sent out a fundraising letter that criticized the Virginia Senate's Republican majority for passing a gasoline tax increase.

[117][118] In the 2005, 2006 and 2007 legislative sessions, Cuccinelli worked to pass eminent domain (compulsory purchase) laws that prevented local and state governments from taking private homes and businesses for developers' projects.

[119] In April 2010, Cuccinelli told the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce that he wanted to improve the protection of property rights in Virginia's Constitution.

[121] In 2005, Cuccinelli was the chief patron of SB873,[122] legislation that entitled law enforcement officers to overtime pay from local governments for hours worked while on vacation or other leave.