Alejandro Nicolas Mayorkas (born November 24, 1959) is an American attorney and government official who was the 7th United States secretary of homeland security, serving from 2021 until 2025.

A member of the Democratic Party, Mayorkas previously served as the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013, and the 6th deputy secretary of homeland security from 2013 to 2016.

[10] Since Mayorkas became Secretary of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported about 10 million nationwide encounters with removable noncitizens across the country.

[11][12][13] Mayorkas' tenure has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans, leading to his impeachment for dereliction of duty in a narrow and largely partisan 214–213 vote by the House of Representatives in 2024.

[23] His mother, Anita (Gabor),[23] was a Romanian Jew whose family escaped the Holocaust and fled to Cuba in the 1940s[24][25][26] before leaving for the United States after the Cuban Revolution.

[2] From 1996 to 1998, Mayorkas served as Chief of the Office's General Crimes Section, overseeing the training and trial work of all new Assistant United States Attorneys in the Criminal Division.

He received numerous awards from federal law enforcement agencies, including from FBI Director Louis Freeh for the successful prosecution of Operation PolarCap.

[2] In late 2000, Mayorkas was one of many California officials who participated in efforts to obtain executive clemency for narcotics trafficker Carlos Vignali Jr., the son of a wealthy Los Angeles businessman.

[34] As USCIS director, Mayorkas led United States citizenship through management efficiencies and fiscal responsibility, and safeguarding the integrity of the immigration system.

[36] The report concluded that "The juxtaposition of Mr. Mayorkas' communication with external stakeholders on specific matters outside the normal procedures, coupled with favorable action that deviated from the regulatory scheme designed to ensure fairness and evenhandedness in adjudicating benefits, created an appearance of favoritism and special access.

[39][18] The investigation by the OIG into Alejandro Mayorkas's actions as USCIS director—specifically, his intervention to expedite reviews for foreign investor visa applicants in three cases—sparked controversy and delayed his confirmation proceedings.

[44] After the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, Mayorkas led the Obama administration's delegation to Cuba in 2015,[42] and negotiated with the Cuban government on port and cargo security and U.S.-Cuba travel.

[25] Under Mayorkas's tenure, DHS greatly expanded its Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax, Virginia, to aid the department's efforts to combat various cybercrimes, ranging from child exploitation to computer hacking and intellectual property theft.

[54][55] Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Rob Portman, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan voted with the Democrats to confirm Mayorkas.

[61][62] Three weeks later, after critics called the initiative "a violation of free speech" and its executive director Nina Jankowicz had resigned, the Disinformation Working Group was "paused".

Senator Ted Cruz, Representatives Andy Biggs, Michael Cloud and Vicky Hartzler had, by October 2022, raised the prospect of impeaching Mayorkas.

[64][65][66] On October 31, 2023, Mayorkas testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that more than 600,000 people illegally made their way into the United States without being apprehended by border agents during the 2023 fiscal year.

[67][68] On January 17, 2024, a non-binding resolution denouncing the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the U.S. southern border passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 225–187, with 211 Republicans and 14 Democrats supporting it.

[11][12][13] On July 25, 2024, the United States House of Representatives voted 220–196 to pass another resolution condemning the Biden-Harris administration for their handling of the U.S. southern border.

[72][73] On November 9, 2023, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to impeach Mayorkas, citing a dereliction of duty and saying he "failed to maintain operational control of the [Southern] border".

[75][76] On January 28, 2024, House Republicans introduced two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, alleging "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and breach of the public trust.

Constitutional legal scholars and Democrats asserted Republicans were using impeachment to address immigration policy disputes rather than for high crimes and misdemeanors, of which there was no evidence.

[78] In a Washington Post opinion piece, Norm Eisen and Joshua Matz argued that an impeachment of Mayorkas on grounds of "maladministration" would violate the Constitution.

[84] Major media outlets variously characterized the failed vote as a "stunning rebuke", a "calamitous miscalculation", and a "story of a House in utter disarray".