Vice President He Jinli swears in Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas at the White House on Feb. 2, 2021.
The Senate voted 56-43 Tuesday (Feb. 2) to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas, President Biden‘s nominee for secretary of homeland security.
He is the lowest number of votes to date for a member of Biden’s Cabinet to be approved. In the days before his confirmation, Mayorkas, 61, still faced strong opposition from Republicans who feared he was unfit for the role.
Mayorkas, the sixth Biden Cabinet pick to be confirmed by the Senate, becomes the first Latino immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security. He previously served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
As secretary of the massive agency, Mayorkas will oversee a department of 240,000 employees responsible for border security, immigration enforcement, cyber security and disaster preparedness and relief, among other missions.
Mayorkas has also become a central figure in Biden’s attempts to reverse the hard-line immigration policies of the Trump years, which since Biden took office have swiftly repealed former President Trump’s border security measures.
On its first day, the Biden Administration signed an executive order and issued a memorandum temporarily halting deportations of illegal immigrants, revoking Trump’s travel ban on terror-prone countries, halting construction of a border wall, suspending the Remain in Mexico program for asylum seekers, and retaining and strengthening the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and unveiled a comprehensive immigration package to Congress that includes Amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.
In the days leading up to Mayorkas’ confirmation, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) vigorously called on senators to oppose the nomination because of Mayorkas’ apparent “disregard for the rule of law and embrace of China.
In a tweet, Cruz shared a letter (pdf) to his congressional colleagues outlining what he sees as a “litany of ethical, legal and policy failures” in Mayorkas’ past public service.
Cruz said these failures include “abusing his power to provide special treatment from the government to benefit well-connected Democrats, and securing EB-5 visas for senior officials at huawei.” He added that Huawei is “a global spying operation by the Chinese Communist Party disguised as a technology company.
“Mr. Mayorkas has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for the rule of law.” In his letter, Cruz noted that in 2015 the inspector general provided an “extensive and egregious” report on his actions during his tenure as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Cruz said the report had “exposed his misconduct as USCIS director.”
The report investigates how Mayorkas interfered with the EB-5 visa program process for wealthy investors in a questionable manner. According to the Washington Post, it ultimately concluded that Mayorkas did not violate the law, but created signs of “special access.
Cruz emphasized that Mayorkas did not have any Republican support in the Senate when he was confirmed in 2013.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday in remarks against confirmation that he believes Mayorkas “should not be confirmed by the Senate as the leader of Homeland Security.”
“Frankly, his record portends that even a lesser position should not be confirmed.” McConnell added.
Another Biden Cabinet pick who appears to face serious hurdles is former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was nominated by Biden to be secretary of health and Human Services (HHS) on Dec. 7, 2020.
Senate Republicans strongly opposed Becerra’s confirmation because of his lack of experience in public health and longtime support for federal funding of voluntary abortion (abortion-on-demand).
A confirmation hearing for Becerra has not yet been scheduled. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Okla.) urged Biden to withdraw his nomination.
Charlotte Cuthbertson and Reuters contributed to this report.
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