Senate confirms Mayorkas as Biden's homeland security chief

Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday as President Joe Biden's homeland security secretary, first Lati to fill a post that will have a central role in government's response to coronavirus pandemic, a sweeping Russia-linked cyber hack and domestic extremism.

Mayorkas was confirmed by a 56-43 vote, narrowest margin yet for a Biden Cabinet minee. first immigrant to serve in job, he is expected to lead a broad policy overhaul of an ncy that was accused of being deeply politicised as it carried out President Donald Trump's initiatives on immigration and law enforcement.

Mayorkas is a former federal prosecutor who previously served as a senior DHS official. His mination was stalled in Senate by Republicans who wanted to question him furr on Biden's plans for immigration policy. He also faced questions over his manment of an investor visa programme under President Barack Obama.

Biden's team had hoped to have Mayorkas confirmed by January 20. But Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri placed a hold on mination on January 19, forcing a delay in confirmation vote. Democrats bristled at delay.

"My friends on or side do t have to agree with Mr Mayorkas on finer points of every policy, but surely we can all agree that he kws department, understands threats to our nation's security and has what it takes to lead DHS," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he called for a vote to lift a Republican filibuster on mination.

Even some Republican senators who had expressed reservations about mination conceded DHS needed a confirmed secretary with nation facing so many challenges, including aftermath of January 6 attack on Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn election.

"I drove through National Guard again to get here this morning. We have got some real issues," Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said as he voted to send mination from committee to full Senate for vote.

Mayorkas, whose family came to US from Cuba as refugees in 1960 and whose mor had fled Holocaust, was a federal prosecutor in Sourn California before he joined Obama administration, first as head of immigration services ncy and n as deputy secretary of DHS.

"Mr Mayorkas is uniquely qualified to make sure Department of Homeland Security is working to protect people from all backgrounds, all communities and all walks of life," Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of Senate Homeland Security Committee, said from Senate floor.

Under Trump, department was frequently in turmoil and mired in controversy. ncy carried out heavy-handed immigration enforcement initiatives, most toriously separating migrant children from ir families as part of a zero-tolerance campaign in 2018. Over summer, department was widely condemned, including by some former secretaries, for deploying tactical nts without nametags and insignia to protests in Portland, Oregon, against wishes of local authorities.

In September, a senior official filed a whistleblower complaint accusing Homeland Security leaders of downplaying threat warnings that Trump might find objectionable, including information about Russian election interference and rising threat posed by white supremacists. And president ousted widely respected head of DHS cybersecurity ncy in vember for his defence of integrity of 2020 election.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who spent more than a year in post without Senate confirmation, and or senior officials turned routine news conferences into what to many appeared to be Trump campaign events, touting relatively mir enforcement actions as major policy achievements. Mayorkas, who rejected a proposal to separate families when he served under Obama, has pledged to "end inhumane and unjust treatment of immigrants," but also to maintain border enforcement.

"We are a nation of immigrants, and we are also a nation of laws," he said during his confirmation hearing.

At Mayorkas' confirmation hearing, senators raised 2015 report by Office of Inspector General that criticised him for his manment of a programme that granted US residency to foreign investors. investigation found he created an appearance of favouritism and political interference by directing approval of three projects backed by prominent Democrats, overruling staff recommendations when he ran immigration services ncy under Obama.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell deunced him on Senate floor Tuesday, saying Mayorkas should be kept from even a lower post for providing special treatment to prominent figures such as Hillary Rodham Clinton's bror, Anthony Rodham, and former Virginia Goverr Terry McAuliffe. "Mr Mayorkas did his best to turn US Citizenship and Immigration Services into an unethical favour factory for Democratic Party royalty," he said. Mayorkas disputed IG report's conclusion and told senators he intervened in decisions, on behalf of both Republicans and Democrats, to correct what he considered wrong actions. 

(Im Credits: AP)