Senate Makes Alejandro Mayorkas First Latino Head Of Homeland Security
The Senate has voted to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He becomes the first Latino and first immigrant to lead DHS.
The vote was narrower than for some of President Biden’s other Cabinet nominees. Mayorkas was confirmed by a 56-43 vote on Tuesday.
The approval came on the same day Biden is expected to sign a series of executive actions on immigration, including one to begin to reunite migrant children separated from their parents after crossing the United States border.
Biden has also sent Congress a sweeping immigration proposal.
Mayorkas, who previously worked for the department during the Obama administration, faces the task of bringing structure to the agency, which has not had a confirmed secretary since 2019.
