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Shared Responsibility: the importance of international partnerships to homeland security

714 views · Published 11 November 2014 · 1:02:20 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: LSE · 2014 · Education

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Speaker: Alejandro Mayorkas 
Chair: Professor Peter Trubowitz

Recorded on 5 November 2014.

The Deputy Secretary of US Department of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, will deliver remarks on the close partnership between the United Kingdom and the United States on a variety of Homeland Security issues, including counterterrorism, aviation security, cybersecurity, travel and trade, and countering violent extremism. 

Alejandro Mayorkas was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security on December 23, 2013. Since 2009, following his nomination by President Obama and subsequent confirmation, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas served as the Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency charged with operating the largest immigration system in the world. In that position, he led a workforce of 18,000 members throughout more than 250 offices worldwide and oversaw a $3 billion annual budget. While at USCIS he oversaw a number of important programs and enhancements, including the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as well as important reforms that safeguard our nation’s security, and ensure the integrity of the immigration system. 

Prior to his appointment at USCIS, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas was a partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. In 2008, the National Law Journal recognized Deputy Secretary Mayorkas as one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.” 

In 1998, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, becoming the youngest U.S. Attorney to serve the nation at that time. In addition to leading an office of 240 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Mayorkas served as the Vice-Chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Civil Rights and as a member of the Subcommittee on Ethics in Government. From 1989 to 1998, Mayorkas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. 

Deputy Secretary Mayorkas is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and received his law degree from Loyola Law School. 

Peter Trubowitz is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

The International Relations Department at LSE (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 87th year, making it one of the oldest as well as largest in the world.

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