The U.S. Senate on Tuesday (Feb. 2) approved Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security in the Biden administration. He is the first Hispanic to hold this important post and the first immigrant to hold this position.
The Senate approved the appointment by a vote of 56 to 43.
Mayorkas, a federal prosecutor by trade, has served as a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security. The confirmation process for his nomination was delayed because Republicans had wanted to ask more questions about the Biden Administration‘s immigration policies. He has also been questioned for having managed an immigrant investor program under President Obama.
The Biden team had hoped to confirm Mayorkas on Jan. 20, the day of Biden’s inauguration, but Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, called off the nomination hearing process on Jan. 19, delaying Mayorkas’ confirmation vote.
Democrats have expressed their displeasure with the delay. Some Republicans also say that while they have reservations about the nomination, someone needs to be at the helm of the Department of Homeland Security at a Time when the United States is currently facing many challenges.
Mayorkas came to the United States with his Family from Cuba as a refugee in 1960. His mother had fled the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. He worked as a federal prosecutor in southern California before joining the Obama administration, first as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and then as executive deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security, which brought together a number of federal agencies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, was formally established in 2002 as the shortest-running federal cabinet department in the United States. The Department includes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Secret Service, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, among other agencies.
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