Washington, DC – Today the Senate Homeland Security Committee approved the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Now only a vote in the full Senate remains to confirm him and fill the current vacancy at this critical department. In a letter sent earlier this morning on behalf of the nation’s mayors, U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) President and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran urged the Senate to move ahead quickly and place America’s security over politics. It reads, in part, “This is a time when our nation and our cities can ill afford to have the position of Secretary of Homeland Security vacant. There is no doubt that Alejandro Mayorkas is eminently qualified by virtue of ability and experience to lead the Department during this tumultuous time.”
The full text of the letter can be found below.
We write on behalf of the nation’s mayors to urge the Senate to quickly confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security. This is a time when our nation and our cities can ill afford to have the position of Secretary of Homeland Security vacant. There is no doubt that Alejandro Mayorkas is eminently qualified by virtue of ability and experience to lead the Department during this tumultuous time. Indeed, he has been confirmed by the Senate three times for previous positions, most recently as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.
Our nation faces multiple crises, and the Department of Homeland Security has an integral role in shaping and carrying out our government’s response to them:
- Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it is critically involved in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing badly needed resources and assistance to state and local governments.
- Through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency it is working to protect us from cyber attacks and respond to those that have occurred, especially the sophisticated and massive SolarWinds hack that has hit government agencies and private businesses alike and been attributed to Russia.
- Through several of its agencies the Department plays the lead role in immigration at the very time that the Biden Administration is working to reverse the cruel and xenophobic immigration policies of the previous Administration and make our immigration system more just, more humane and more reflective of the fact that ours is a nation built by immigrants and continually renewed and strengthened by them.
- Finally, through the Department’s intelligence and enforcement capabilities, it plays a vital role in our nation’s efforts to prevent and respond to domestic terrorism and violent extremism, evil forces that threatened our very democracy during the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
National security concerns have been heightened by threats both foreign and domestic and our government and our nation need Alejandro Mayorkas in office as Secretary of Homeland Security now. The nation’s mayors urge you to move his nomination immediately through Committee and then to the floor of the Senate.
Sincerely,
Greg Fischer
USCM President
Mayor of Louisville, KY
Tom Cochran
USCM CEO and Executive Director