DHS Secretary Nominee Mayorkas Promises STOP Act Regs Will Come Soon
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Joe Biden administration's nominee for Homeland Security secretary, told Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, during his confirmation hearing that getting CBP to promulgate regulations to implement a law combating fentanyl imports through the mail would be a priority for him, if he is confirmed.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Mayorkas, who was questioned repeatedly by Republicans about political influence in a visa program when he led the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division, will not be getting a floor vote, because Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., blocked his nomination from exiting the Senate Homeland Security Committee without a committee vote. Hawley criticized Biden's intention to ask Congress to pass a bill that would give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
In more than two hours of questions, trade was barely touched on, as senators focused on the problems of cybersecurity, white nationalist violence, and immigration. Portman, who sponsored the fentanyl bill, called the STOP Act (see 1809180040), told Mayorkas that CBP blew a deadline to implement regulations on how to require advance data on small packages, and said Congress has given the agency until mid-March to get them done. “We’ve got to make sure we meet that March 15 deadline,” Portman said Jan. 19. “We've got to keep this poison from coming into our communities by U.S. mail.”