Speaker Series
St. John’s Speaker Series is a popular adult education offering held between services at 10:00 AM on select Sundays from September to May. Nationally noted individuals, from scholars and poets to world leaders and faith leaders, present on pressing issues of the day and impactful historical events to expand our knowledge as individuals and as a community.
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September 8, 2024
The Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas
The State of Homeland Security Today
September 8, 2024
10:00am
Please note: This Speaker Series event will be held in the Sanctuary.
Join us on Sunday, September 8 for an exciting start to this season’s Speaker Series at St. John's. Between the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services, the Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will update us on the work of the DHS today.
A political refugee born in Havana, Cuba, Mayorkas is the first Latino and immigrant confirmed to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He has led a distinguished 30-year career as a law enforcement official and a nationally recognized lawyer in the private sector. Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2016, and as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure at DHS, he led the development and implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign governments, led the Department’s response to Ebola and Zika, helped build and administer the Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking, and developed an emergency relief program for orphaned youth following the tragic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Mayorkas also created the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate to better ensure the integrity of the legal immigration system.