Alejandro Mayorkas
 Alejandro Mayorkas     (lawyer) | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 1959-11-24 Havana, Cuba | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | UC Berkeley, Loyola Law School | ||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Council on Foreign Relations/Members 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||
A lawyer connected to Bill Clinton's 'Pardongate' episode
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Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas is an American lawyer and government official serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security since February 2, 2021. During the Obama administration, he also served in the Department of Homeland Security, first as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013), and then as Deputy Secretary (2013–2016).
Born in Havana, Cuba, his family fled shortly after the Cuban Revolution to Florida and later settled in California. He graduated from UC Berkeley in history with honors, subsequently earning his J.D. from Loyola Marymount University.
Commutation of the prison sentence of Carlos Vignali
Mayorkas was the United States Attorney for the Central District of California from 1998 to 2001.[1] According to the Washington Post, this job involved overseeing prosecutions for public corruption, immigration, narcotics trafficking and money laundering.[2]
In 2001, Mayorkas was criticized by the House Committee on Government Reform for his involvement in the commutation of the prison sentence of Carlos Vignali, who had served six years of a fifteen-year sentence for his role in a drug-trafficking operation when he was granted clemency by the then-United-States-President Bill Clinton,[3] one of 176 commutations and pardons performed by Clinton during his last few hours in office.[4]
According to Politico, Mayorkas had phoned the White House to argue that Vignali should be released, apparently in answer to a request by Vignali's father, a well-known Los Angeles businessman.[5] Unknown to Mayorkas, Vignali's father had been suspected of drug trafficking by federal law enforcement, but there had never been enough evidence to bring a case against him. Mayorkas apologized, saying, "It is reasonable to expect that someone in my position would do his or her due diligence to learn that information, ... I made a mistake."[3]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Munich Security Conference/2023 | 17 February 2023 | 19 February 2023 | Germany Munich Bavaria | Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists. The real decisions are made by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere. |
| Munich Security Conference/2024 | 16 February 2024 | 18 February 2024 | Germany Munich Bavaria | Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects |
References
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/01/nation/na-mayorkas1
- ↑ http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach/2010/07/immigration-services-head-from-havana-to-washington-dc.html
- ↑ a b http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/26/news/mn-34745
- ↑ http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_12271912?source=rv
- ↑ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15651.html
