Politico: The Obama administration is naming a former Justice Department official, Alan Bersin, to tackle drug-related violence and illegal immigration problems plaguing the U.S. border with Mexico, an official said Tuesday night.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is expected to make the announcement during a visit to El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Outsiders have dubbed the post a “border czar.”
“Right now our goals are two-fold. No. 1 is to prevent people at the border from entering this country illegally and No. 2 is to play a part in assisting the Mexican government in its crackdown on the drug cartels,” the source said. “That will be the primary function of this new position.”
Bersin's bio:
Alan Bersin was appointed to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on December 4, 2006; confirmed by the San Diego City Council, and elected Board Chairman by his colleagues. Previously, Bersin served as California’s Secretary of Education between July 2005 and December 2006 in the Administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Schwarzenegger also appointed Bersin to the State Board of Education where he continues to serve as a member confirmed by the California State Senate. Between 1998 and 2005, he served as Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego where he launched a major reorganization of the district to focus its resources strategically on instruction and to modernize its business infrastructure in order to support teaching and learning in the classroom. In a related capacity statewide, Bersin served between 2000 and 2003 as a member of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and for which he was selected by his colleagues as chairman in December 2000 for a two-year term. Prior to becoming the leader of the nation’s eighth largest urban school district, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California and confirmed in that capacity by the U.S. Senate. Bersin served as U.S. Attorney for nearly five years and as the Attorney General’s Southwest Border Representative responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement on the border from South Texas to Southern California.
Bersin was a senior partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, where he served on the firm’s policy and compensation committees and was principally responsible for developing the firm’s innovative paralegal program. He also chaired the committee overseeing the firm’s extensive program of pro bono legal services, which is widely acknowledged as a model for major law firms. At Munger, Tolles & Olson, Bersin specialized in complex RICO, securities, commercial and insurance litigation before state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California and Alaska bars.
Other professional experience includes employment as Special Counsel to the Los Angeles Police Commission, as visiting professor of law at the University of San Diego School of Law, as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Southern California Law Center, and as a Lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.
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