Here’s How Much Secretary Of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas Is Worth

After a revolving-door career, the secretary of homeland security has built a portfolio worth an estimated $8 million. 

Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959, the same year that Alejandro Mayorkas was born in Havana. In 1960, Mayorkas’ parents fled the country, undoubtedly hoping for a brighter future. They found it in the United States, where their baby grew up to be both a member of the president’s cabinet and a lawyer worth an estimated $8 million.

After attending the University of California at Berkeley and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Mayorkas chose to work for the nation that had welcomed his family. He started as an assistant U.S. attorney. In 1998, President Bill Clinton nominated him to serve as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, making Mayorkas, 39 at the time, the youngest person in his position in the country. He stayed in the job until 2001.

When George W. Bush assumed the presidency, Mayorkas took his first pass through the revolving door, entering private practice at O’Melveny & Meyers, where he remained from 2001 to 2009, working inside the firm’s white-collar defense and corporate investigations group.

In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Mayorkas to serve as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The next year, Mayorkas purchased a $1.6 million home in Washington, D.C. He stayed in the Obama administration until 2016, eventually serving as the deputy secretary of homeland security.

Around the time Trump won the 2016 election, Mayorkas returned to private practice once again—this time joining the law firm WilmerHale, where Robert Mueller serves as a partner. Mayorkas stayed there through 2020, working with blue-chip clients like MGM Resorts, Northrup Grumman, Blackstone, and Airbnb. The work paid well, and Mayorkas developed a portfolio of stock and bond funds. On a financial disclosure report filed in January, he disclosed a $3.3 million partnership share that he received, as well as an additional payment of more than $1 million that he was still expecting.

Mayorkas won’t earn quite so much as secretary of homeland security, which comes with a salary of about $200,000. But his new role will offer him an opportunity to impact U.S. immigration policy. “When I was very young, the United States provided my family and me a place of refuge,” he tweeted after Biden selected him for a cabinet position. “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 live for themselves and their loved ones.”

Inside Mayorkas’ Wallet

The secretary of homeland security filed a financial disclosure report in January, detailing big earnings from his days at WilmerHale, the law firm, including a $3.3 million partnership share that he had already received, as well as more than $1 million that he was still due.