DOCSLIB.ORG

LA Times: Biden Names First Immigrant Head

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
LA Times: Biden Names First Immigrant Head 11/24/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper Biden makes pick for Homeland Security chief California attorney Alejandro Mayorkas would be first Latino and first immigrant to hold Cabinet post. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, born in Cuba and raised in L.A., joins a growing list of experts chosen for national security and foreign policy-focused Cabinet posts. (Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times) BY MOLLY O’TOOLE WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named Alejandro Mayorkas as his Homeland Security secretary, a move that could make the Cuban American and former federal prosecutor in California the first Latino and first immigrant to serve in the Cabinet post. https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=db6a62d1-319c-4115-9ee0-0dba0b2200c3 1/4 11/24/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper Mayorkas, who was born in Havana, grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Berkeley and Loyola Law School. He began working for the government as an assistant United States attorney in the Central District of California, specializing in white-collar crime, and went on to become the youngest U.S. attorney in the country, according to the Biden transition announcement. “When I was very young, the United States provided my family and me a place of refuge,” Mayorkas tweeted shortly after the announcement with a brand-new account reading: “DHS nominee for Joe Biden.” “Now, I have been nominated to be the DHS Secretary and oversee the protection of all Americans and those who flee persecution in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.” Under the Obama administration, Mayorkas was a primary architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a primary negotiator of the thaw in then- frozen U.S.-Cuban relations. Both DACA and the opening to Cuba havebeen primary political targets for President Trump and the Republican Party. Biden adds Mayorkas to his growing list of picks for national security and foreign policy- focused Cabinet posts. President Trump, who had been urged by experts from his own party to begin the transition, yielded to the reality that the presidential election will not be overturned and authorized Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration, to start formal transition proceedings, though he did not concede. “We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy,” former Vice President Biden said in a statement Monday. “I need a team ready on Day One to help me reclaim America’s seat at the head of the table, rally the world to meet the biggest challenges we face, and advance our security, prosperity, and values. This is the crux of that team.” The task facing Mayorkas is a daunting one: steering a Titanic of a department, the federal government’s third-largest with some 240,000 employees, away from being used as a political tool to achieve Trump’s central campaign promise of restricting immigration, in almost the opposite direction. Biden has promised to reverse many of Trump’s immigration policies, enacted by an unprecedentedly politicized Homeland Security Department racked by record vacancies and turnover, from an assault on asylum to slashes to family and business-based immigration and restoring DACA. Trump officials were recently handed another loss in their long-running attempt to end the program, which Biden has promised to fully restore as one of his first moves in office. The ruling also said that Trump’s last pick for Homeland Security chief, Chad Wolf, was illegally appointed. Mayorkas will probably face the confirmation process in a Republican-majority Senate, as will Biden’s nominees for roughly 1,000 other positions in the incoming administration that need Senate confirmation. https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=db6a62d1-319c-4115-9ee0-0dba0b2200c3 2/4 11/24/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, praised the “historic nomination” of Mayorkas — saying the caucus is urging that Biden pick four more Latinos for his Cabinet. “We share the Biden-Harris transition team’s goal to create the most diverse administration in U.S. history,” he said in a statement. Opponents are likely to point to a 2015 Homeland Security Inspector General report that found Mayorkas “exerted improper influence” in helping companies obtain employment visas, a finding he has disputed. But the Biden transition announcement noted that Mayorkas has been confirmed by the Senate three times already. He has served in the top post at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security agency administering the legal immigration system, as well several years as deputy chief of the department under the Obama administration. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a Cuba hawk and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that Mayorkas is “a smart and natural pick” to lead DHS. “He has the subject matter experience to take on the enormous job of cleaning up after the disastrous and inhumane immigration policies that have torn lives and families apart under the Trump administration,” Menendez said. The Homeland Security Department, created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, has a broad mandate, including emergency response, election security and immigration enforcement. But Trump’s mark on Homeland Security — xenophobic rhetoric against migrants and a range of documented abuses by the department’s law enforcement officials — will be difficult to erase. Mayorkas also will be immediately confronted with untangling Trump’s more than 400 executive actions on immigration, which could tie up the incoming Biden administration’s own ambitions, including ever-elusive comprehensive immigration reform. Biden has not caved in to calls for the department to be dissolved. He’s said instead that he’ll increase oversight and training of its law enforcement arms — Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — which came to be associated with Trump’s more infamous policies, such as family separation and widespread raids. Mayorkas also helped lead the department’s response to Ebola and Zika under Obama. Both Biden and his picks so far have made clear that the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be the most urgent priority. Notably, Biden has not explicitly committed to ending a controversial authority that Trump’s officials say they were given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid the pandemic that allowed them to effectively close the border and turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants, including asylum seekers and unaccompanied children. A judge recently barred the Trump administration from expelling lone https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=db6a62d1-319c-4115-9ee0-0dba0b2200c3 3/4 11/24/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper immigrant children without due process or access to humanitarian protections under U.S. law. CDC officials said they rejected the policy as political and not based in public health. Mayorkas most recently practiced law in the private sector for Los Angeles-based O’Melveny & Myers and WilmerHale in Washington. In 2015, as the then-No. 2 at DHS, Mayorkas returned to Cuba for the first time since his family fled with his mother carrying him to Miami at 6 months old. His father, who died in L.A. in 2012, had always wanted to visit but never got the chance. Mayorkas’s father’s family emigrated from Turkey and Poland to Cuba in the early 20th century, and his mother was born in a Jewish family in Romania that escaped to Cuba from Nazi-occupied France in the early 1940s, The Times reported at the time. “He did not want to raise the family in a communist country,” Mayorkas said of his father. “He believed in democracy, and he understood the perils and the challenges of living otherwise.” https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=db6a62d1-319c-4115-9ee0-0dba0b2200c3 4/4.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2021 Leg Agenda February 12
    LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Committee Members Mayor Pro Tem Michael A. Cacciotti, Chair Council Member Joe Buscaino, Vice Chair Dr. William A. Burke Senator Vanessa Delgado (Ret.) Supervisor V. Manuel Perez Supervisor Janice Rutherford February 12, 2021 9:00 a.m. Pursuant to Governor Newsom’s Executive Orders N-25-20 (March 12, 2020) and N-29-20 (March 17, 2020), the South Coast AQMD Legislative Committee meeting will only be conducted via video conferencing and by telephone. Please follow the instructions below to join the meeting remotely. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC PARTICIPATION AT BOTTOM OF AGENDA Join Zoom Webinar Meeting - from PC or Laptop https://scaqmd.zoom.us/j/99574050701 Zoom Webinar ID: 995 7405 0701 (applies to all) Teleconference Dial In +1 669 900 6833 One tap mobile +16699006833,, 99574050701# Audience will be able to provide public comment through telephone or Zoom connection during public comment periods. PUBLIC COMMENT WILL STILL BE TAKEN AGENDA Members of the public may address this body concerning any agenda item before or during consideration of that item (Gov't. Code Section 54954.3(a)). If you wish to speak, raise your hand on Zoom or press Star 9 if participating by telephone. All agendas for regular meetings are posted at South Coast AQMD Headquarters, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California, at least 72 hours in advance of the regular meeting. Speakers may be limited to three (3) minutes each. South Coast AQMD -2- February 12, 2021 Legislative Committee CALL TO ORDER - Roll Call DISCUSSION ITEMS (Items 1 through 2): 1. Update and Discussion on Federal Legislative Issues Gary Hoitsma (No Motion Required) Carmen Group Consultants will provide a brief oral report of Federal legislative pgs 5-12 activities in Washington DC.
    [Show full text]
  • Amended Complaint
    Case 3:21-cv-00065 Document 71 Filed on 06/01/21 in TXSD Page 1 of 59 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS GALVESTON DIVISION STATE OF TEXAS; STATE OF MONTANA; STATE OF ALABAMA; STATE OF ALASKA; STATE OF ARIZONA; STATE OF ARKANSAS; STATE OF FLORIDA; STATE OF GEORGIA; STATE OF KANSAS; COMMONWEATH OF KENTUCKY; STATE OF INDIANA; STATE OF LOUISIANA; STATE OF Civ. Action No. 3:21-cv-00065 MISSISSIPPI; STATE OF MISSOURI; STATE OF NEBRASKA; STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA; STATE OF OHIO; STATE OF OKLAHOMA; STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA; STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA; STATE OF UTAH; STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA; and STATE OF WYOMING, Plaintiffs, v. JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., in his official capacity as President of the United States; ANTONY J. BLINKEN, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of State; MERRICK B. GARLAND, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the United States; Case 3:21-cv-00065 Document 71 Filed on 06/01/21 in TXSD Page 2 of 59 ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; DEB HAALAND, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Interior; JENNIFER GRANHOLM, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Energy; MICHAEL S. REGAN, in his official capacity as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; THOMAS J. VILSACK, in his official capacity as the Secretary of Agriculture; PETE BUTTIGIEG, in his official capacity as Secretary of Transportation; SCOTT A. SPELLMON, in his official capacity as Commanding General of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
    E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 159 WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2013 No. 182 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, December 23, 2013, at 10 a.m. Senate FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2013 The Senate met at 9 a.m. and was Eternal Spirit, who has blessed us of the lost, last, lonely, and least, called to order by the President pro with every spiritual blessing in heav- bringing deliverance to captives and tempore (Mr. LEAHY.) enly places, we give reverence to Your permitting the oppressed to be un- holy name. Thank You for choosing us shackled. Dwell in the hearts of our PRAYER to labor for liberty during these chal- Senators, enabling them to be rooted lenging times. Lord, keep us from the and grounded in Your love. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- temptations that would thwart our ef- fered the following prayer: fectiveness as You deliver us from evil. We pray, in Your powerful Name. Let us pray. Use our lawmakers to lift the burdens Amen. NOTICE If the 113th Congress, 1st Session, adjourns sine die on or before December 24, 2013, a final issue of the Congres- sional Record for the 113th Congress, 1st Session, will be published on Tuesday, December 31, 2013, to permit Members to insert statements. All material for insertion must be signed by the Member and delivered to the respective offices of the Official Reporters of Debates (Room HT–59 or S–123 of the Capitol), Monday through Friday, between the hours of 10:00 a.m.
    [Show full text]
  • What a Biden Harris Administration Could Look Like
    President Biden’s Team Confirmed choices of the 46th President Secretary of Secretary of State Secretary of Treasury Homeland Security Antony Blinken Janet Yellen Alejandro Mayorkas Former Deputy Former Chairwoman of Former Deputy Secretary of State the Federal Reserve Secretary of Homeland Board Security Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra Current Attorney General of California President Biden’s Team Rumored choices of the 46th President Secretary of U.S. Attorney Secretary of Defense General Interior Lloyd Austin Xavier Becerra Steve Bullock Retired General, former head of U.S. Central Current Attorney General of California Governor of Montana and former presidential Command candidate Tammy Duckworth Raul Grivalja Member of the Armed Services Committee Amy Klobuchar Congressman from Arizona and Chair of the and former U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Senator from Minnesota and former Committee on Natural Resources presidential candidate that gave key Michele Flournoy endorsement to Biden in the primaries Deb Haaland Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Congresswoman from Arizona, one of the first Doug Jones Jeh Johnson Native American women elected to Congress Former Senator from Alabama and former U.S. Former Secretary of Homeland Security, and Attorney Martin Heinrich former General Counsel of the Department of Junior Senator from New Mexico Defense Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall Sally Yates Tom Udall Former Coordinator for Defense Policy, Former acting AG under Obama and outspoken Retiring Senator from New Mexico and son of Countering WMDs, and Arms Control under critic of Trump’s Department of Justice the former U.S. Secretary of Interior in the Obama 60’s, Stewart Udall Secretary of Secretary of Secretary of Agriculture Commerce Labor Marcia Fudge Ursula Burns Andy Levin Congresswoman from Ohio, Chair of the Member of the Board of Directors of Uber Congressman from MI, former labor organizer House Ag.
    [Show full text]
  • The Honorable Joseph Biden Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas President of the United States Department of Homeland Security Amb. Su
    The Honorable Joseph Biden Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas President of the United States Department of Homeland Security Amb. Susan Rice Jake Sullivan Domestic Policy Council National Security Advisor Cc: Secretary Antony Blinken Secretary Xavier Becerra Department of State Department of Health and Human Services Submitted via email August 13, 2021 Re: Joint Letter to President Biden on Expulsion Flights to Southern Mexico and Forthcoming Changes to Asylum Processing Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, Amb. Rice and Advisor Sullivan: We, the 102 undersigned organizations, write to express our profound disappointment at Secretary Mayorkas’s remarks yesterday that outlined plans to increase prosecutions of families and individuals arriving at our border and maximize expulsions. Far from fulfilling its commitment to build a “safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,” your administration continues to pursue cruel, unlawful, and ineffective deterrence-based policies that extend rather than dismantle the previous administration’s approach to migration. Since your administration took office in January 2021, there have been more than 3,000 documented kidnappings, extortions, rapes, and other attacks suffered by families and individuals expelled from the southern border. We are gravely concerned by reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to send 24 expulsion flights per month of Central American families and adults seeking protection at the U.S.-Mexico border to southern Mexico. In the last week, hundreds of migrants expelled on the first such flights have reportedly been denied access to protection and forced by Mexican authorities into remote areas of Guatemala. DHS has also resumed lateral expulsion flights along the U.S.-Mexico border and expulsion flights to Haiti.
    [Show full text]
  • Congress of the United States House of Representatives
    Madison Cawthorn 11th District of North Carolina Congress of the United States House of Representatives August 26, 2021 The Honorable Kamela Harris Vice President of the United States 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20500 Madame Vice President I write to you today on a subject of great importance and great sensitivity. Our nation is at a crisis point. Rising Sino imperialism and colonialism, revanchist Russian ambitions, illegal immigrants pouring across an undefended border, rising inflation, a diminished America on the world stage, and the prospect of American honor being lost in a craven retreat from the Taliban in Afghanistan; all are issues demanding our attention. These times of crisis require intelligence, competence, hardiness, and firm hands at the tiller of the ship of state. The job, “Leader of the Free World”, is not a position granted from sympathy, whimsy, or genetic caste, it is a job for which sober-minded citizens select from amongst themselves an individual that is best-suited to defend them from enemies foreign or domestic. The job, President of these United States is a sacred trust granted to very few in the hopes that they will protect the legacy of this country and the lives of those who inhabit it. Madam Vice President, you are a heartbeat away from the Presidency and the position you inhabit is substantially different than it was even 50 years ago. No longer must you content yourself merely with the portions of the job the President is not interested in. Vice Presidents now work hand in hand with the President on foreign policy, national defense and domestic issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Senator Dianne Feinstein Statement of Introduction for the Nomination of Alejandro N. Mayorkas to Be Deputy Secretary for the De
    Senator Dianne Feinstein Statement of introduction for the nomination of Alejandro N. Mayorkas to be Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security July 25, 2013 It is a pleasure for me to introduce President Obama’s nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. I have known Ali for many years and am proud to have recommended him to President Clinton for the position of United States Attorney for the Central District of California as well as to President Obama for his current position as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The role of Deputy Secretary within the department is really an important one. The deputy secretary is charged with overseeing the agency’s efforts to counter terrorism and enhance the security and management of our borders, while facilitating trade and travel, and enforcing our immigration laws. Additionally, this secretary assists in the safeguarding and security of cyberspace and provides support for national and economic security in times of disaster in coordination with federal, state, local, international and private sector partners. Mr. Mayorkas I believe is well-qualified for this position. He brings to this office a diverse background and set of experiences in both the private and public sectors. Born in Havana, Cuba, Mr. Mayorkas earned his B.A. with distinction from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. He earned his law degree from Loyola School in 1985. Those who have enjoyed the opportunity to work with him regard him as being highly intelligent, thoughtful, kind, compassionate and dedicated to doing the “right thing.” From 1989 to 1998, he served as an Assistant U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Orellana V. Mayorkas
    FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT BLANCA ESTELLA ORELLANA, No. 20-16092 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 4:19-cv-05759- DMR ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, Secretary of Homeland Security; TRACY RENAUD, Acting Director, U.S. OPINION Citizenship and Immigration Services; ROBERT LOONEY, San Francisco/San Jose District Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Donna M. Ryu, Magistrate Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted March 8, 2021 San Francisco, California Filed July 28, 2021 2 ORELLANA V. MAYORKAS Before: M. Margaret McKeown and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges, and Joan N. Ericksen,* District Judge. Opinion by Judge Ikuta SUMMARY** Immigration The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Blanca Orellana’s complaint challenging the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ denial of her application for naturalization because the complaint did not plausibly plead that Orellana had not been convicted of an offense that involves fraud or deceit in which “the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000,” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(M)(i), and therefore had the requisite good moral character. The panel held that: (1) under the “circumstance-specific” approach, the district court is not limited to reviewing the record in the criminal case in determining the loss to the victim; and (2) Orellana’s complaint could not survive a motion to dismiss because it did not plausibly allege that the loss to the victim did not exceed $10,000. * The Honorable Joan N.
    [Show full text]
  • President Elect Joe Biden Transition Information
    President Elect Joe Biden Transition Information Transition Website – Build Back Better Meetings & Inauguration events Memorial and Nationwide Tribute to Remember and Honor the Lives Lost to COVID-19 5:30 pm ET January 19 USET SPF Initial Priorities for Biden-Harris Administration – December 18, 2020 PRESS RELEASE | USET SPF Statement on Historic Nomination of Congresswoman Deb Haaland for Secretary of Interior December 17, 2020 • Getting Ready for January: Notes on the 117th Congress National Law Review Article December 17 • History again! Deb Haaland tapped for Interior Indian Country Today Article December 17 • With historic picks, Biden puts environmental justice front and center Washington Post Article December 17 • These are the experts who will lead Biden’s transition at federal agencies Online article November 10 • President Elect Biden First 100 Days Plan NPR Article December 9 • Meet the 13 members of Biden's COVID-19 task force Online article November 9 Top Administration Picks by President Elect Biden Will need Senate Confirmation: Agriculture – Tom Vilsack Commerce – Defense – General Lloyd Austin Education – Energy – Jennifer Granholm EPA Administrator – Michael S Regan Health and Human Services – Xavier Becerra Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Homeland Security – Alejandro Mayorkas Housing and Urban Development – Marcia Fudge Interior – Secretary of Interior – Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) Justice – Labor – OMB Director – Neera Tanden State – Anthony Blinken Transportation – Pete Buttigeg Treasury – Janet Yellen
    [Show full text]
  • Claimed a Risk of Persecution in Their Homeland
    Nos. 18-587, 18-588 and 18-589 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Petitioners, v. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, et al., Respondents. DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, et al., Petitioners, v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, et al., Respondents. (For Continuation of Caption See Inside Cover) ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES CouRTS OF APPEAL FOR THE NINTH, DC AND SEcoND CIRcuITS BRIEF OF FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS JEH C. JOHNSON KAREN L. DUNN LIZA M. VELAZQUEZ JOSHUA RILEY DaviD C. KimBALL-STANLEY MENNO GOEDmaN PAUL, WEISS, RifKIND, WHARTON ANDREA R. FLORES & GARRISON LLP BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP 1285 Avenue of the Americas 1401 New York Avenue, NW New York, NY 10019 Washington, DC 20005 (212) 373-3000 (202) 237-2727 MASHA G. HANSFORD ALBERT GiaNG PAUL, WEISS, RifKIND, WHARTON Counsel of Record & GARRISON LLP BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP 2001 K Street, NW 725 South Figueroa Street Washington, DC 20006 Los Angeles, CA 90017 (202) 223-7300 (213) 629-9040 [email protected] Counsel for Amici Curiae 291551 KEVIN K. MCALEENAN, ACTING SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Petitioners, v. MARTIN JONATHAN BATALLA VIDAL, et al., Respondents. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................... i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ....................................... ii INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE ................................. 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ..................................... 6 STATEMENT OF THE CASE ..................................... 7 ARGUMENT ............................................................. 12 I. Deferred Action Is Firmly Rooted in Historical Practice .......................................... 12 II. Allowing Deferred Action Recipients to Apply for Work Authorization Is Consistent With Historical Practice and Benefits the United States ............................
    [Show full text]
  • Policy Changes Under the Obama Administration
    Policy Changes under the Obama Administration (Dec 2014 – Jan 2017) Timeline December 17, 2014 President Obama announces the beginning of normalization of relations with Cuba. The announcement mentions plans to ease travel and financial restrictions on Cuba over the following months. January 16, 2015 Department of Commerce and Treasury announce first round of regulatory changes to Cuba sanctions, implementing changes that Obama announced on December. January 20-24, 2015 First round of diplomatic conversations between the United States and Cuba. Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, travels to Havana to meet with Cuban officials February 27, 2015 Second round of diplomatic talks. Josefina Vidal, General Director of Cuba’s U.S. Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travels to Washington, D.C. March 31, 2015 First formal conversation on human rights between Cuba and the United States. April 11, 2015 Presidents Obama and Castro meet and have a face-to-face conversation for the first time at the Summit of the Americas in Panama. April 15, 2015 President Obama indicates the Administration’s intent to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation. May 21, 2015 Third round of diplomatic conversations takes place in Washington, D.C. May 29, 2015 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry officially removes Cuba from the State Department’s state sponsors of terrorism list. July 1, 2015 President Obama announces that the U.S. and Cuba will reopen their embassies almost 55 years after they first closed. July 20, 2015 The Cuban embassy officially opens and holds flag-raising ceremony in Washington, D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Biden Cabinet Candidates and Senior White House Positions 4835-4287-3297 V.4.Xlsx
    Nominated/Appointed Favored Department Name Description Rep. Cheri Bustos Congresswoman from Illinois; former member of East Moline, Ill. City Council Rep. Marcia Fudge Congresswoman from Ohio; former mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio Krysta Harden Former Deputy Agriculture Secretary Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs at Brown University’s Watson Institute; former senator from North Dakota; former North Dakota attorney Heidi Heitkamp general Amy Klobuchar Minnesota senator; former prosecutor in Minneapolis and candidate for the Democratic nomination AGRICULTURE Kathleen Merrigan Former deputy Agriculture Secretary Collin Peterson Representative from Minnesota and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Chellie Pingree Representative from Maine Karen Ross Former Chief of Staff to Obama Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse Delaware Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Former Iowa governor who served as agriculture secretary for Mr. Obama Xavier Becerra California attorney general; former California congressman and state Assembly member Preet Bharara Former US Attorney for the Southern District of NY Merrick Garland Federal appeals court judge Jeh Johnson Former Obama Homeland Security Secretary ATTORNEY GENERAL/ Doug Jones Alabama senator; former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama JUSTICE Lisa Monaco Former chief counterterrorism and homeland security advisor to Obama Deval Patrick Former Massachusetts Governor Tom Perez Chair of the Democratic National Committee; former secretary of Labor; former assistant attorney general for civil rights Sally Yates Partner, King and Spalding; former acting attorney general and deputy attorney general; former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia CIA David Cohen Former Deputy CIA Director CLIMATE ENVOY John Kerry Former Secretary of State Jared Bernstein Biden Economic Advisor Heather Boushey Economist Rep.
    [Show full text]