The Senate confirms Alejandro Mayorkas as President Biden’s secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, despite opposition from a number of Republicans.
The final vote was 56-43, with Sen Pat Toomey, Rpa, not voting. Mayorkas, a former head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services and deputy secretary of homeland security, will be the first immigrant to hold the highest DHS rank.
Mayorkas’ confirmation was less ambiguous than another member of Biden’s cabinet confirmed on Tuesday: Pete Buttigieg became transport secretary in an 83-13 vote.
Here are the six GOP senators who broke with a majority in their caucus to confirm Mayorkas:
Sen. Shelley Capito, RW.Va.
Sen Susan Collins, R-Maine
Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah
Other Republicans have objected to Mayorkas, some citing a 2015 inspector general report finding that Mayorkas intervened to help foreign investors in the EB-5 visa program linked to top Democrats.
SENATE CONFIRMS MAYORKAS AS DHS SECRETARY
In one case, Mayorkas’ staff came under pressure to expedite the review of a Las Vegas hotel and casino investment at the request of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to the Inspectorate’s report. general of 2015.
But others note urgent security needs to vote for a quick confirmation – the department has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since Homeland Security minister Kirstjen Nielsen was sacked in the spring of 2019.
During the drafting of the committee, Portman said he found some “integrity issues” in the Inspector General’s report, but that he was “someone who listened to both sides” when he spoke during the Obama years. worked him.
“I found that he, compared to other officials in the Obama administration, is actually more in the middle,” he said.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: WHAT TO KNOW
GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell disagreed on Tuesday with the characterization. He calls Mayorkas an ‘ethically compromised, partisan advocate’ who abuses his power during the Obama administration and urges colleagues to vote against him.
“As a high-ranking official in the Obama administration, Mr. Mayorkas did his best to turn on U.S. citizenship and immigration services. [USCIS] McConnell, R-Ky., Said in an unethical favor factory for the Democratic Party royals.
But Mayorkas’ chances of being confirmed were helped by support from former DHS officials, including those who served in the Trump administration.
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“I think he’s qualified,” former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf told ABC News. “Are his views and his policies the one I would choose? Probably not. But that does not mean that he is not competent, just as I am sure he would say, my views and policies are also not to his liking. not.”