WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been described as a man of few words, direct, and compassionate.
Alejandro Mayorkas, a Cuban American and former Obama administration official, would be the first Latino, if confirmed by the Senate, to lead DHS, an agency created after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. It is the third-largest federal agency in the nation.
“He’s a man of a few words but he is a man of his words, which is really key and important,” said Gaby Pacheco, director of advocacy, communications, and development for TheDream.US, a nonprofit organization that helps undocumented youths with financial support through college scholarships.
Pacheco is a former beneficiary of DACA, the Obama-era program that allows immigrants, who were brought to the U.S. as children without legal status, to remain legally and work and study without fear of deportation. Pacheco met Mayorkas through her DACA advocacy work when he was a top aide with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
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