Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland safety secretary, didn’t take time for a victory lap after surviving a chaotic impeachment vote within the Home this week. He hopped a flight to Las Vegas, the place he outlined safety preparations for the Tremendous Bowl.
Impeachment, he insisted on Wednesday, was not on the prime of his thoughts.
“The allegations are baseless and I’m targeted on the work,” Mr. Mayorkas advised reporters who peppered him with questions concerning the proceedings again in Washington the day earlier than.
After three years on the job, Mr. Mayorkas has realized to maintain his head down by the drama, his confidants say. That ability may come in useful once more quickly, as Home Republicans plan a second try at impeaching a person who has grow to be the face of one of the divisive matters in American politics: the southern border.
“I feel that is disagreeable for him and his household, however he’s singularly targeted on his job,” mentioned Cecilia Muñoz, head of the White Home Home Coverage Council throughout the Obama administration. “For anybody that is aware of him in any respect, that’s not stunning.”
Mr. Mayorkas, 64, has come underneath hearth from the second he stepped into his position, notably from Republicans who see chaos on the border as a helpful political technique of their efforts to seize the White Home in 2024.
He has testified in entrance of Congress in public hearings greater than two dozen instances, probably the most of any member of President Biden’s cupboard, because the variety of individuals crossing into the US has reached report ranges. He’s additionally the primary Latino to run the division; his household fled to the US when he was a 12 months outdated, escaping the communist rise in Cuba.
Mayorkas cited his upbringing in a January letter to Consultant Mark E. Inexperienced, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Homeland Safety Committee, who has led the cost for impeachment.
“My reverence for legislation enforcement was instilled in me by my dad and mom, who introduced me to this nation to flee the Communist takeover of Cuba and permit me the freedoms and alternative that our democracy supplies,” Mr. Mayorkas wrote. “My dad and mom skilled such loss on the fisted arms of authoritarianism that the American legislation enforcement officer stood as a tangible image of security and the rule of legislation in our new house.”
Home Republicans have argued that Mr. Mayorkas ought to be impeached on the grounds that failure to implement sure facets of immigration legislation is a constitutional crime. However in the US, the president and his administration have huge latitude to manage the border, and Mr. Mayorkas has not exceeded these authorities.
Mr. Mayorkas rose to prominence in California as U.S. lawyer for the Central District of California in 1998. In the course of the Obama administration, he held key roles on the Division of Homeland Safety, together with as head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers from 2009 to 2013, when he oversaw the rollout of a well-liked program defending 1000’s of people that got here to the US as kids. He later served as deputy secretary of the company.
Angela Kelley, a former senior adviser on immigration to Mr. Mayorkas, mentioned his business-as-usual actions after the impeachment vote confirmed how he felt about the whole course of.
“I feel it alerts that he’s put his head down and is doing his job and nothing he’s executed is an impeachable offense,” she mentioned.
Mr. Mayorkas was effectively conscious that taking the job as secretary of the division would include an intense stage of scrutiny, particularly after the Trump administration introduced immigration coverage to the forefront of voters’ minds, Ms. Muñoz mentioned.
“He knew when he took the job it was going to be the topic of horrible politics,” she mentioned. “It solely will get worse 12 months after 12 months. He knew what was going to be a difficulty, and he took the job with eyes huge open.”
On the information convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Mr. Mayorkas batted away questions on whether or not he would resign if Republicans obtained sufficient votes to question him sooner or later.
“No,” he mentioned. “I might not.”
