The donor class is urging a quick confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will meet on Tuesday for Mayorkas’s confirmation hearing. The former Obama administration official has the backing of corporate special interest groups and billionaire donors who regularly lobby to inflate the United States labor market via immigration to cut U.S. wages.
“He was also a key resource for the business community during his tenure as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Suzanne Clark said in a statement. “As Secretary, Mayorkas would on day one be a seasoned contributor to the Biden administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Clark then stated, “The Chamber strongly supports the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas.”
Executives with the Chamber of Commerce, in statements this month, said they are interested in working with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on amnesty for illegal aliens and expanding legal immigration levels.
Likewise, billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economy (NAE) group voiced its support for Mayorkas’s confirmation soon after Biden announced his nomination. NAE lobbies members of Congress on behalf of corporate special interests to expand immigration to the U.S.
“Alejandro Mayorkas understands the contributions immigrant communities make to our society and economy, and he has the experience to lead the Department of Homeland Security at such a crucial turning point,” the group’s executive director, Jeremy Robbins, said. “We look forward to working with him to build a smart, fair, humane immigration system that reflects American values.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us, which seeks more immigration to the U.S. to fill tech jobs with foreign workers, previously stated its backing of Mayorkas.
“He has previously been confirmed three times by the United States Senate, and we urge his swift confirmation to ensure there is a Senate-confirmed leader of DHS at this critical time,” FWD.us President Todd Schulte said.
The American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), which hosted Mayorkas for a seminar, has been actively lobbying Senate Republicans to approve Biden’s pick. ABIC is made up of Republican donors and business executives.
Mayorkas’s widespread support among the business lobby and donor class comes as they have fought President Trump’s asylum reforms, travel bans, visa rules, and refugee resettlement cutbacks. Mayorkas, oppositely, has had an exceptionally friendly relationship with corporate special interests.
In recent years, Mayorkas represented corporations such as T-Mobile, Sprint, Uber, Airbnb, Intuit, Cisco Systems, and the Wall Street firm Blackstone. Specifically, Mayorkas helped T-Mobile and Sprint during their billion-dollar merger, which has already resulted in thousands of layoffs of Americans while experts expect 30,000 Americans in total to lose their jobs.
Previously, Mayorkas served as deputy secretary at DHS under the Obama administration, during which time the Inspector General (IG) unveiled that he had improperly helped secure EB-5 visas for well-connected wealthy foreign nationals.
In 2015, the IG noted that multiple staffers at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had reported Mayorkas for intervening in three specific EB-5 visa cases in which foreign investors had been denied visas. In each case, Mayorkas intervened on behalf of the foreign investors to appeal the decisions and secure them visas.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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