Alejandro Mayorkas

Alejandro "Ali" Nicholas Mayorkas is Director of Department of Homeland Security under Joe Biden. Alejandro Mayorkas known as the "chief architect" of Obama's amnesty plan known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Alejandro Mayorkas has been a board member of United Friends of the Children, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and the Anti-Defamation League.

Alejandro Mayorkas' is married to Tanya Mayorkas. Their daughters are Giselle Mayorkas and Amelia Mayorkas.

'Chief Architect' of DACA

Alejandro Mayorkas is the "chief architect"^[1] of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) from his time as the Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Approval from the Left

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a leading immigrant advocacy organization, described Mayorkas’ selection as “an inspired choice.” “He is the right person to undo Trump’s cruelties, advance fair and humane policies, and deliver on the bold change the American people strongly support,” Sharry said.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the L.A-based National Immigration Law Center, said the selection of Mayorkas “sends a strong signal to immigrant communities that the Biden administration fully intends to follow through on their commitments to undo the harms of the Trump administration.”^[2]

Endorsements

A White House tweet dated Jan 18, 2021 showed the following organizations as endorsing Alejandro Mayorkas:^[3]

Pardon of Democrat Donor's Drug Trafficker Son

Alejandro Mayorkas was involved in the Clinton-era pardon of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali, the son of Democrat donor Horacio Vignali.^[4]

Bio

Verbatim from AllGov:^[5]

A former U.S. Attorney who was involved in a controversial clemency decision during the Clinton years, Alejandro “Ali” Mayorkas has served as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services since August 2009.

Born on November 24, 1959, in Havana, Cuba, Mayorkas was an infant when his family relocated to Beverly Hills. Both his parents were Jewish, his mother having fled from Romania to Cuba during World War II.

Mayorkas was co-captain of the Beverly Hills High School tennis team and president of his junior class. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of California at Berkeley (1981), and his JD from Loyola Law School (1985).

Mayorkas spent a year as an assistant law librarian at a Beverly Hills law firm and then almost two years as a clerk at the law office of Dennis M. Harley. From February 1986 until April 1987, he was with the Los Angeles office of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Taylor. He then joined Cooper, Epstein & Hurewitz, a Beverly Hills entertainment law firm. Mayorkas returned to Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler for a few months in 1989, before joining the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, a position he held for seven years until 1998.

From 1996 until 1998, he served as chief of the office’s General Crimes Section, where he trained and mentored other assistant U.S. Attorney new hires. Among his more high-profile cases was the prosecution of Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss for money laundering and tax evasion. While Fleiss was in prison, the E cable channel ran a show that claimed Fleiss had cooperated with federal narcotics agents as an informant, a revelation that, if true, would have put her in great danger with her fellow prisoners. After the show aired, Mayorkas called the prison and told the authorities there that the accusation was false, thus saving Fleiss.

In 1998, on the recommendation of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, President Bill Clinton appointed Mayorkas the U.S. Attorney for California’s central district, making him, at age 39, the youngest U.S. Attorney in the nation at that time. During his last year at this post, he received unfavorable media coverage for his role in the decision by Clinton to commute the prison sentence of high-level cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali. Vignali’s father, Horacio Vignali, was a campaign contributor to Democratic politicians.

When Clinton left the White House, Mayorkas left the Justice Department and in September 2001 he became a litigation partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm O’Melveny and Myers, where he represented large corporations and other clients in high-profile cases in the U.S. and overseas, until 2009.

Mayorkas has been an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School and a frequent lecturer around the country. He has served as a member of the California Council on Criminal Justice, a committee of the California state government, and the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. Mayorkas also has been a director of the Federal Bar Association’s Los Angeles Chapter and has served as a member of several committees of the American Bar Association. He’s served on the audit committee and the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the board of trustees of Drew University and the board of directors of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which specializes in providing legal services for low-income seniors. He has also been a board member of United Friends of the Children, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and the Anti-Defamation League.

Mayorkas and his wife, Tanya, have two daughters, Giselle and Amelia."

Background

Born in Cuba, Alejandro Mayorkas grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and Loyola Law School. During the Clinton administration, Mayorkas served as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. During the Obama administration, he served in the Department of Homeland Security, first as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013) and then as Deputy Secretary (2013–2016).

In 2016, Mayorkas became a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Students Meet with Wes Moore, Admiral James Stavridis, and Alejandro Mayorkas

On July 23, 2020 Students met with Wes Moore, Admiral James Stavridis, and Alejandro Mayorkas.^[6]

Biden pick

In 2020 Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas was picked by Joe Biden to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

2013 Letter Urging Confirmation

A 2013 letter by Marielena Hincapie of the National Immigration Law Center^[7] and signed by leftist pro-illegal immigration groups dated December 9, 2013 urged "swift confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as the next Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)".

We write to urge swift confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as the next Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Throughout his professional career, and particularly as Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), Mr. Mayorkas has shown outstanding leadership and executive management skills, which make him well qualified for this position.

As Director of USCIS, the largest immigration system in the world, Mr. Mayorkas is responsible for 18,000 employees in more than 200 offices around the globe. He has successfully overseen the administration of our nation’s immigration and naturalization laws and has championed key agency priorities, such as promoting national security, improving customer relations, and utilizing technology to improve agency services and increase public access to USCIS resources.

Most notable, however, has been Mr. Mayorkas’ extraordinary leadership in implementing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Announced on June 15, 2012, DACA allows certain qualified young immigrants who came to the United States as children to temporarily live and work in this country. Although it was given only sixty days to operationalize DACA, USCIS began accepting applications on August 15, 2012; as of August 31, 2013, more than 588,000 individuals have applied for DACA and 455,455 have been approved.

Under Mr. Mayorkas’ leadership, DACA’s implementation has been highly successful; indeed DACA is a model of government efficiency. Its seamless execution has involved numerous critical factors, including a keen understanding of complex immigration laws, inter-agency coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and significant engagement with stakeholders. Throughout the process, Director Mayorkas has been fully transparent about the program’s implementation, meeting with academics, attorneys, advocates, and community members on a regular basis to share information about the program and to respond to questions and concerns.

As organizations that have worked closely with Director Mayorkas, we recognize his unique leadership skills and urge you to approve his nomination. For further information, please contact Don Lyster at (202) 384-1279 or lyster@nilc.org.

Sincerely,

Marielena Hincapie

Executive Director, National Immigration Law Center

The letter was signed^[8] by the following organizations:

Obama appointment

In May 2009 Alejandro Mayorkas was nominated^[9]by the Obama administration for the position of Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in the DHS and confirmed in August 2009.

References

[1] FAIR Opposes Alejandro Mayorkas to Head DHS: Wrong Person, Worst Time (accessed January 28 2021)

[2] [1]

[3] White House Tweet Dated Jan 18, 2021 (accessed January 28 2021)

[4] Biden HHS pick played key role in convicted drug trafficker’s commutation (accessed January 28 2021)

[5] Mayorkas, Alejandro (accessed January 28 2021)

[6] Thursday, July 23 – Students Spend Day Four with Wes Moore, Admiral James Stavridis, and Alejandro Mayorkas (accessed January 28 2021)

[7] (accessed March 5 2021)

[8] (accessed January 28 2021)

[9] Nominations and appointments

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