Does Alejandro Mayorkas Hold Dual Citizenship? Everything You Need to Know

As the Secretary of Homeland Security under the Biden administration, Alejandro Mayorkas has become a household name in recent years. Given how contentious immigration is in American politics, questions have been raised about Mayorkas’s upbringing and citizenship. In this article we talk about Does Alejandro Mayorkas Hold Dual Citizenship? Everything You Need to Know.

Early Life

Alejandro Mayorkas was born in 1959 in Havana, Cuba to a Jewish family. His mother Anita was a Romanian Jew who fled to Cuba to escape the Holocaust. His father Carlos was a Cuban Jew of Turkish and Polish descent. In 1960, when Mayorkas was only one year old, his family left Cuba for Miami following the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro. They later settled in Beverly Hills, California.

So while Mayorkas was born in Cuba, his family departed when he was still an infant. He was raised and educated primarily in the United States, attending UC Berkeley and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. So despite his birthplace, Mayorkas likely identifies as American rather than Cuban.

U.S. Citizenship Status

There is no doubt that Mayorkas is a U.S. citizen. Having immigrated to America from Cuba as a baby, he has spent nearly his entire life in the United States. While details are scarce on his precise citizenship process, he undoubtedly obtained U.S. citizenship at some point after initially arriving as a Cuban refugee.

All public information on Mayorkas refers to him as American, with no references to dual citizenship. The U.S. Constitution requires high-level federal officials to be “natural born” U.S. citizens, so if Mayorkas still held Cuban citizenship, it would have barred him from Senate confirmation for his current and past political appointments. Safe to say he firmly establishes himself as solely an American citizen.

Possibility of Cuban Citizenship?

Despite leaving Cuba 61 years ago, does Mayorkas potentially retain citizenship in the country of his birth under Cuban law? The answer is maybe, but unlikely to be applicable anymore even if Cuban citizenship persists on paper.

Cuba’s current constitution states that Cuban citizenship can only be lost if it is expressly renounced, which is a difficult process very few people undertake. So technically, someone born in Cuba likely continues carrying Cuban citizenship for life unless that specific renunciation process occurs.

The U.S. government does not formally recognize dual citizenship with Cuba. So from America’s viewpoint, Mayorkas is solely a U.S. citizen now regardless of Cuba’s citizenship policies. If for some reason Cuban citizenship was still intact despite over six decades living abroad, the U.S. would deem it invalid.

And while Cuba may view people like Mayorkas as still holding Cuban citizenship, that administrative status is essentially obsolete for him after establishing permanent U.S. residency and now serving in high-level American political office. The only sliver of relevance any existing Cuban citizenship would have is if Mayorkas tried visiting there and claiming rights as a Cuban citizen. But as a figure in the U.S. government, that scenario is implausible.

In Summation

Alejandro Mayorkas absolutely holds U.S. citizenship after his family fled Cuba when he was a baby. He has spent his entire life living and working in America, besides a brief return visit to Cuba in 2015. All evidence firmly supports his status as an American citizen without any meaningful connection to his country of birth.

While Cuban law technically means he may still hold citizenship there on paper, that administrative status has no real-world impact. For all intents and purposes related to his career and life in the United States, Mayorkas has been solely an American citizen for over 60 years since first arriving as a Cuban refugee. So while the possibility of technical dual citizenship with Cuba exists on a nominal basis, it is effectively irrelevant. Alejandro Mayorkas is an American, period. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this “Does Alejandro Mayorkas Hold Dual Citizenship? Everything You Need to Know” article.