Bush-, Obama-era officials urge Senate to swiftly confirm Biden’s DHS pick

A group of former Obama and Bush administration Homeland Security officials urged the Senate to quickly confirm President Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), saying it’s “more urgent than ever” to have a Senate-confirmed leader.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS deputy under former President Obama, advanced out of committee Tuesday amid a hold on his nomination and a Republican effort to conduct a second hearing to review his nomination.

“In the wake of the January 6th domestic terror attack on the Capitol—the symbol of our nation’s democracy—it is more urgent than ever to have in place an experienced, capable and Senate-confirmed leader,” Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, DHS secretaries under former President George W. Bush, and Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson, who served under Obama, wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News.

“That person is Mayorkas,” they wrote to both Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The quartet wrote a similar op-ed in The Washington Post the week before Mayorkas’s nomination hit a roadblock when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he would place a hold on the nomination.

Mayorkas advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday with a 7-4 vote.

But a letter from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked both Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to hold an additional hearing for Mayorkas before he reaches the Senate floor. 

“The Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction over matters relating to immigration and nationality under Senate Rule XXV. For this reason, all members of the committee should have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Mayorkas directly, and to publicly discuss with him his plans with respect to the Department’s immigration components and functions,” he said.