WASHINGTON — President Trump’s prime two officers on the Division of Homeland Safety are illegally serving of their positions, with appointments that violated the legal guidelines governing who can fill Senate-confirmed positions, according to a report released Friday by the Authorities Accountability Workplace.

Chad F. Wolf, the appearing secretary of homeland safety, and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, his deputy on the sprawling company, are serving in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which lays out particular orders of succession when senior officers resign, in keeping with the G.A.O., Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog.

The report stated the improper appointments started after Kirstjen Nielsen was compelled out of workplace because the division’s secretary in April 2019.

“As a result of the inaccurate official assumed the title of appearing secretary at the moment, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official had been invalid,” the Authorities Accountability Workplace stated on Friday. The company stated that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli “are serving beneath an invalid order of succession.”

The report follows the same discovering in March by a federal decide, who dominated that Mr. Cuccinelli’s appointment violated federal legislation and that two insurance policies he put in place whereas he served within the place ought to be nullified.

“Cuccinelli’s appointment fails to adjust to the F.V.R.A. for a extra basic and clear-cut purpose,” the decide, Randolph D. Moss of america District Courtroom in Washington, stated in his ruling.

The Authorities Accountability Workplace doesn’t have the power to implement its findings on the Trump administration, which has repeatedly defended its appointments of Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli. In an announcement, the watchdog stated that it was referring the difficulty to the Division of Homeland Safety’s inspector common and to Congress, which might attempt to pressure their removals.

Authorized specialists stated the report would assist bolster a number of courtroom instances, together with the one in Decide Moss’s courtroom, during which the appointments are being challenged.

“Holy cow: The *GAO* has decided that Chad Wolf was not lawfully named the Appearing Secretary of Homeland Safety, and that @HomelandKen (who already is utilizing an inappropriate title) wasn’t lawfully appointed even to his *correct* place at DHS,” Stephen I. Vladeck, a legislation professor on the College of Texas at Austin, whose work consists of finding out the Vacancies Act, wrote on Twitter.

“It is a remarkably massive deal,” he added.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic chief, stated any coverage choices made by Mr. Wolf or Mr. Cuccinelli ought to be nullified, and the boys ought to step down.

“President Trump’s efforts to put in political sycophants to implement his excessive insurance policies in an finish run across the legislation and Senate have lastly caught up with him,” Mr. Schumer stated in an announcement. “The willpower by an impartial congressional watchdog right this moment invalidates actions Mr. Cuccinelli and Mr. Wolf have taken and each ought to instantly step down from their unlawful roles.”

However the White Home has ignored such findings earlier than. Final yr, an impartial authorities company stated Mr. Trump ought to hearth Kellyanne Conway, his White Home counselor, for repeated violations of an ethics legislation, the Hatch Act, which bars partisan politics from the federal office. The advice by the company, referred to as the Office of Special Counsel, went nowhere.

The Vacancies Reform Act gives particular guidelines for the way senior positions at federal companies could be crammed briefly when a prime official leaves. It requires that solely sure officers in a division’s current chain of command could be tapped as “appearing” leaders whereas a president seeks Senate affirmation of a everlasting alternative.

Mr. Trump’s administration has repeatedly sought to disregard the order of succession outlined by the Vacancies Reform Act, looking for as an alternative to raise officers seen as extra loyal to the president and his agenda than the civil servants who had been in line to tackle the “appearing” positions.

Within the instances of Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli, the report discovered that the administration improperly passed over the right particular person to succeed Ms. Nielsen — the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company — and as an alternative put in Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Safety, to function appearing secretary.

When Mr. McAleenan later resigned, the Authorities Accountability Workplace stated, the administration’s subsequent strikes involving Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli had been “additionally improper as a result of they relied on an amended designation made by Mr. McAleenan.”