Alejandro Mayorkas

A former top Los Angeles federal prosecutor who was involved in a Clinton-era clemency controversy has been tapped to head an influential Department of Homeland Security immigration agency. Alejandro Mayorkas is President Obama's pick to be director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which adjudicates a broad range of immigration and naturalization issues and oversees international adoptions, asylum, refugee status and foreign student authorization.

President Clinton announced Thursday that he will nominate Alejandro N. Mayorkas to become the top federal prosecutor in Southern California. If confirmed by the Senate, the 38-year-old Cuban native would head the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, overseeing prosecutions in the largest federal judicial district in the country. A government prosecutor for the past 10 years, Mayorkas will effectively take charge on Monday when outgoing U.S. Atty.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has recommended to President Clinton that he nominate Alejandro Mayorkas, a 10-year veteran prosecutor, to become the next U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, The Times has learned. If Clinton nominates him, which is highly likely, and the Senate approves, Mayorkas would become the top federal law enforcement official in seven Southern California counties from Riverside to San Luis Obispo.