WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday as Secretary of Homeland Security to President Joe Biden, the first Latino to hold a position that will play a central role in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a major cyber hack linked to Russia and domestic extremism.
Mayorkas was confirmed with a vote of 56-43, the smallest margin to date for a candidate for the Biden cabinet. The first immigrant to serve in the job will lead a broad policy review of an agency accused of being deeply politicized in implementing President Donald Trump’s initiatives on immigration and law enforcement.
Mayorkas is a former federal prosecutor who previously served as a senior DHS officer. His nomination was held in the Senate by Republicans who wanted to question him further about Biden’s plans for immigration policy. He also got questions on his management of an investor visa program under President Barack Obama.
Biden’s team had hoped Mayorkas would be confirmed on January 20. But Missouri Senator Josh Hawley paused before the inauguration, delaying the vote for confirmation.
The Democrats ran into the delay.
“My friends on the other hand don’t have to agree with Mr. Mayorkas on the finer points of each policy, but we can all agree that he knows the department, he understands the threats to the security of our country and has what it takes to lead the DHS, ”said Senate leader Chuck Schumer when he called for a vote to lift a Republican filibuster over the nomination.
Even some Republican senators who expressed reservations about the nomination admitted that the DHS needed a confirmed secretary as the nation faced so many challenges, including the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. by Trump supporters seeking to quash the election.
“I was driven by the National Guard again to get here this morning. We have some real problems, ”said Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman when he voted to send the nomination of the committee to the full Senate for vote.
Portman was one of six Republicans who ultimately voted for the nomination. Mayorkas was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris later Tuesday.
Mayorkas, whose family came to the US as a refugee from Cuba in 1960 and whose mother had fled the Holocaust, was a federal prosecutor in Southern California before joining the Obama administration, first as chief of immigration and then as deputy secretary from DHS.
“Mr. Mayorkas is uniquely qualified to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security works to protect people of all backgrounds, communities and all walks of life,” said Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the United States. Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Under Trump, the department was often in turmoil and controversy. The agency carried out brutal immigration enforcement initiatives, most notoriously separating migrant children from their parents as part of a zero-tolerance campaign in 2018. Mayorkas will work to reunite some of the families still separated as head of a task force that Biden launched on Tuesday with an executive order.
During the summer, DHS was widely condemned, including by some former secretaries, for deploying tactical agents without name tags and badges in protests in Portland, Oregon, against the wishes of local authorities.
In September, a senior official filed a complaint with a whistleblower accusing Homeland Security leaders of downplaying threat warnings which Trump could find offensive, including information about Russian electoral interference and the growing threat from white supremacists. And the president dismissed the well-respected head of the cybersecurity agency DHS in November for his defense of the integrity of the 2020 elections.
Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who spent more than a year in the position without Senate confirmation, and other senior officials turned routine news conferences into what many believed were Trump campaign events, touting relatively minor enforcement measures as important policy achievements.
Mayorkas, who rejected a proposal to separate families while serving under Obama, has pledged to “end the inhuman and unjust treatment of immigrants,” as well as to enforce border control.
“We are a nation of immigrants, and we are also a nation of laws,” he said at his hearing.
Brandon Judd, chairman of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents US Border Patrol agents and others, said in a recent interview with the Fox Business Network that migrant smugglers have stepped up their efforts to bring people, including children, into the country because of a perception that the Biden government will be less hostile. But he said he was “optimistic” about the new president’s choice for Mayorkas.
“He has appointed a very good secretary for DHS, a secretary who understands that policies affect border security,” he said.
Judd predicted that Mayorkas would drop some Trump policies, but look for others that would “do the same” as under the previous administration. “And if he can, we can still maintain border control.”
During Mayorkas’s confirmation hearing, senators brought up the 2015 Office of Inspector General report criticizing his management of a program granting U.S. residency to foreign investors. The investigation found that he created the appearance of cronyism and political interference by leading the approval of three projects backed by prominent Democrats, overturning the staff’s recommendations when he headed the immigration service under Obama.
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell denounced him on the Senate floor on Tuesday, saying Mayorkas should be kept from even a lower post for offering special treatment to such prominent figures as Hillary Clinton’s brother Tony Rodham and former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. “Mr. Mayorkas did his best to make the US Citizenship and Immigration Services an unethical favor factory for Democratic Party royalties,” he said.
Mayorkas disputed the IG report’s conclusion, telling senators that he intervened on behalf of both Republicans and Democrats in decisions to correct what he perceived to be wrong actions. “When a leader enters the federal office with the authority to solve problems, that leader has the responsibility to solve problems, and that’s what I did,” he said.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney, another Republican who voted in favor of the nomination, said at the confirmation hearing that he discussed the report at length with Mayorkas and was pleased that he considered his action a “mistake” that he would not repeat.
“We have just endured a president for four years who I will say had a relaxed relationship with the truth, and I think we want the highest level of integrity in government functions,” Romney said.