Alejandro Mayorkas

Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas (English: Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, born November 24, 1959) is a Cuban-American lawyer and Democratic government official. He has served as the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (2021-2025), Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009-2013), and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2013-2016). Mayorkas was born in Havana, Cuba, and fled to the United States with his family after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and Loyola Law School of California. Mayorkas served as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California during the Bill Clinton administration. He served at the Department of Homeland Security during the Barack Obama administration, first as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013) and then as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (2013–2016). In 2016, Mayorkas became a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. On November 23, 2020, President Joe Biden announced his nomination of Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security before taking office. After being confirmed by the Senate as minister on February 2, 2021, he became the first Cuban-American to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. On February 13, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the impeachment of Mayorkas by one vote. Mayorkas became the second cabinet member to face impeachment in U.S. history; on April 16, the Senate voted to reject the impeachment case on the grounds that the two impeachment papers had order problems and violated the U.S. Constitution.