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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas took no time to emerge victorious after weathering a chaotic impeachment vote in the House this week. He hopped on a plane and went to Las Vegas, where he outlined security preparations for the Super Bowl.
He insisted Wednesday that impeachment was not on his mind.
Mr. Mayorkas returned to Washington the day before and told reporters, who fielded questions about the proceedings, that “the allegations are baseless and I am focused on my job.”
After three years on the job, Mayorkas has learned to keep his head down through drama, his confidants say. Those skills could come in handy again soon, as House Republicans plan a second attempt to impeach the man who has become the face of one of the most divisive issues in American politics, the southern border. There is.
“I think this is unpleasant for him and his family, but he is unusually focused on his job,” said Cecilia Muñoz, who headed the White House Domestic Policy Council during the Obama administration. “There is,” he said. “That’s not surprising to anyone who knows him at all.”
Mr. Mayorkas, 64, has faced criticism from the moment he took on the role, particularly from Republicans who see chaos at the border as a useful political strategy in their efforts to seize the White House in 2024.
He has testified in more than 20 Congressional hearings, the most of any member of President Biden’s Cabinet, as the number of people entering the United States reaches record levels. He is also the first Latino to run the department. His family emigrated to the United States when he was one year old, fleeing the rise of communism in Cuba.
Mr. Mayorkas mentioned his background in a January letter to Representative Mark E. Green, Republican of Tennessee, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, which led the impeachment prosecution.
Mayorkas said, “My respect for law enforcement was instilled in me by my parents, who fled the communist occupation of Cuba to give me the freedom and opportunity that our democracy offers. Brought me to this country,” he wrote. “My parents experienced a great sense of loss at the violent hands of authoritarianism, so American law enforcement officers stood as tangible symbols of security and the rule of law in our new home. is.”
House Republicans have argued that Mayorkas should be impeached, arguing that failing to enforce certain aspects of immigration law is a constitutional crime. But in the United States, the president and his administration have wide discretion to control the border, and Mr. Mayorkas has never exceeded that authority.
Mr. Mayorkas rose to prominence in California in 1998 as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. He held senior roles at the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, including serving as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013. When he was a child he oversaw the deployment of a popular program that protected thousands of people who came to the United States. He then served as deputy director of the agency.
Angela Kelly, Mr. Mayorkas’ former senior adviser on immigration, said Mr. Mayorkas’ business-as-usual behavior after the impeachment vote shows how he feels about the entire process.
“I think this shows he’s keeping his head down and doing his job. Nothing he’s done is an impeachable offense,” she said.
Muñoz said Mayorkas was well aware that becoming head of the department would come with an intense level of scrutiny, especially after the Trump administration put immigration policy front and center in voters’ minds.
“When he took this job, he knew it was going to be a hot topic of politics,” she said. “Every year it just gets worse. He knew what was at stake and went into it with his eyes open.”
At a news conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Mayorkas brushed aside questions about whether he would resign if Republicans received enough votes to impeach him in the future.
“No,” he said. “I…wouldn’t.”
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