Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. President-choose Joe Biden’s candidate to be director of Homeland Security, speaks as President-choose Biden reveals his nationwide security candidates and appointees at his shift head office in Wilmington, Delaware, November 24, 2020.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Senate verified Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday to lead the country’s Department of Homeland Security, making him the very first Latino to hold the function.
The Senate voted 56 to 43.
His ascension to the firm’s leading function comes less than 4 weeks after advocates of outbound President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and as the country has a hard time to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The firm, which was produced on the heels of the 9/11 attacks, manages border security, migration enforcement, cybersecurity and catastrophe relief.
Mayorkas’ verification was stalled recently when some Republicans argued that Biden’s candidate was not effectively vetted on pushing migration concerns. On Thursday, Mayorkas’ election advanced a procedural obstacle after the Senate voted to break a GOP filibuster.
On Tuesday, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell stated that Mayorkas “does not deserve Senate confirmation.”
“I’ll be voting against his confirmation and urge our colleagues to do the same,” McConnell stated.
Mayorkas, who formerly worked as deputy secretary at DHS under previous President Barack Obama, will likewise end up being the very first foreign-born individual to run the department. The 61-year-old Cuban immigrant stimulated his heritage throughout his opening remarks prior to the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
“The principles of homeland and security have been tremendously important in shaping my life. My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism and to provide me with the security, opportunity, and pride that American citizenship brings to each of us,” Mayorkas stated.
“I was raised to appreciate each day what this country has meant for our family, and the blessing it is to know it as our homeland,” he included.
Mayorkas verification follows Avril Haines, who ended up being the very first female to the lead country’s 18 intelligence companies as the director of nationwide intelligence, Lloyd Austin, the country’s very first Black Defense secretary, Janet Yellen who is the very first woman to lead the Department of Treasury and Anthony Blinken as the secretary of State and Pete Buttigieg as Transportation secretary.
