Airport Alert: Confirmation Hearing Held for Alejandro Mayorkas to Become DHS Secretary
January 19, 2021
Under the Obama Administration, Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of DHS (2013-2016) and the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (2009-2013). In those Senate-confirmed roles, he was extensively involved with the Department's border, transportation security, cybersecurity, immigration enforcement, and disaster relief portfolios. He is also a former federal prosecutor.
Mayorkas was born in Havana and came to the United States as a political refugee when he was about one year old. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will be the first foreign-born and Hispanic leader of DHS.
The hearing today focused on DHS' response to the COVID-19 crisis and what more it can do to battle the pandemic to protect the health and wellbeing of both the American public and the Department's employees, a prior DHS Inspector General audit on Mayorkas' involvement in select investor visa cases, border security, immigration, cybersecurity, and domestic terrorism. Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) pushed Mayorkas to provide more vaccines for front line DHS employees, specifically mentioning Customs and Border Protection, because they are dependent on inoculations from local communities or at eight Veterans Affairs locations nationwide.
The Committee must still vote on Mayorkas' nomination. At the time the confirmation hearing adjourned, this vote had not been scheduled. Assuming a favorable vote out of Committee, then the full Senate will consider Mayorkas for the DHS Secretary position. Until a DHS Secretary is confirmed, TSA Administrator David Pekoske will serve as the Acting DHS Secretary.
For more details, here are links to the confirmation hearing and Mayorkas' written statement.
Under the Obama Administration, Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of DHS (2013-2016) and the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (2009-2013). In those Senate-confirmed roles, he was extensively involved with the Department's border, transportation security, cybersecurity, immigration enforcement, and disaster relief portfolios. He is also a former federal prosecutor.
Mayorkas was born in Havana and came to the United States as a political refugee when he was about one year old. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will be the first foreign-born and Hispanic leader of DHS.
The hearing today focused on DHS' response to the COVID-19 crisis and what more it can do to battle the pandemic to protect the health and wellbeing of both the American public and the Department's employees, a prior DHS Inspector General audit on Mayorkas' involvement in select investor visa cases, border security, immigration, cybersecurity, and domestic terrorism. Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) pushed Mayorkas to provide more vaccines for front line DHS employees, specifically mentioning Customs and Border Protection, because they are dependent on inoculations from local communities or at eight Veterans Affairs locations nationwide.
The Committee must still vote on Mayorkas' nomination. At the time the confirmation hearing adjourned, this vote had not been scheduled. Assuming a favorable vote out of Committee, then the full Senate will consider Mayorkas for the DHS Secretary position. Until a DHS Secretary is confirmed, TSA Administrator David Pekoske will serve as the Acting DHS Secretary.
For more details, here are links to the confirmation hearing and Mayorkas' written statement.
