Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Cortez Masto 1 of 11 to vote against new Homeland chief

Cortez Masto sworn in

Kevin Wolf/Associated Press

Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., as her husband, Paul Masto, holds the Bible during a mock swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.

RENO — Nevada's new U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was one of 11 Democrats who voted against President Trump's nominee for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate voted Friday to confirm Gen. John F. Kelly on a vote of 88-11. No Republican opposed him.

Cortez Masto said in a statement she respects the general's many years of service to the country. But she said she couldn't in good conscience support him given his views on immigration.

The former Nevada attorney general won Harry Reid's seat in November to become the first Latina to serve in the Senate. She says she's concerned Kelly won't fully protect the rights of children who immigrated to the U.S. and are "American in all but paper."

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