Homeland Security’s 2nd-in-command will be going home to Cuba

Alejandro N. Mayorkas (in photo at top), deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, will be spending a few days in his native city, Havana, this week.

Mayorkas, 55, who left Cuba at the age of 1 with his parents and sister in 1960, is scheduled to meet with Cuban government officials and discuss trade and travel between the United States and Cuba, the Department of Homeland Security announced this week.

He will be accompanied by Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose agency facilitates lawful travel and trade. Both will remain in Havana from Tuesday (Oct. 27) until Friday (Oct. 30.)

Mayorkas is the highest-ranking Cuban-American in President Obama’s administration. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley and received his law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

After obtaining his law degree, he joined the prestigious Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny & Myers. As a litigation partner, he represented Fortune 100 and other companies in their highest profile and most complex and sensitive matters. He advised boards of directors and top executives, tried cases, led internal investigations, and litigated cases in a wide array of industries, including telecommunications, health care, consumer safety, sports and entertainment, aerospace, media, and real estate.

At the age of 39, he was named U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, becoming the youngest federal prosecutor in the nation. In Los Angeles, he led an office of 240 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the prosecution of cases in various areas of law enforcement, including cases of public corruption, investment fraud, civil rights violations, high-tech and computer-related crime, organized crime, environmental crime, and international money laundering.

The National Law Journal named him one of the Fifty Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.

Before being picked for his current post by President Obama, Mayorkas was director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009-20013.)

Details of his activities this week in Cuba have not been announced but, given his background, they may involve talks about fugitives from the United States who have fled to Cuba and Cuban nationals who have fled to the U.S. and are sought by Cuban justice. The two countries do not have a formal repatriation agreement.