Message from Director Alejandro N. Mayorkas

I am excited to inform you today that I have selected Lori Scialabba as the Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Steve Bucher as the Associate Director of our Refugee, Asylum and International Operations (RAIO) Directorate.

Ms. Scialabba will be the career Deputy Director effective May 8, 2011.  Since 2006, Ms. Scialabba has served as RAIO’s Associate Director.  From September 2008 through January 2009, she also served as the Senior Advisor on Iraqi Refugees to the Secretary of Homeland Security.  Before joining DHS, Ms. Scialabba served as Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).  She was appointed to the Board in March 1998 and became Vice Chairman in June 1999.

Ms. Scialabba began her career with DOJ in October 1985 through the Attorney General’s Honors Program.  She served as a trial attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Chicago and, from 1986 to 1989, she served as Assistant General Counsel for INS headquarters.  In 1989, she joined the Office of Immigration Litigation in DOJ’s Civil Division.  In 1994 Ms. Scialabba was appointed Deputy General Counsel for the INS, a position she held until her appointment to the Board of Immigration Appeals in 1998.

Steve Bucher will become the new Associate Director of RAIO effective May 8, 2011.  Since 2007, Mr. Bucher has served as RAIO’s Deputy Associate Director.  From 2006 to 2007, he served as Deputy Associate Director for National Security and Records Verification, and from 2000 to 2006 he served as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of Service Center Operations.  During his 19 years with USCIS and previously INS, Mr. Bucher also worked with the Office of Naturalization Operations and the Office of Records in Washington, D.C., and in the Western Regional Office in Laguna Niguel, California.  Before joining the INS, Mr. Bucher worked for ten years with the Social Security Administration as an adjudicator, first-line supervisor, and office director.

Lori Scialabba and Steve Bucher are outstanding leaders who have dedicated their careers to public service.  In their new positions, they will be poised to help lead this agency as we endeavor to accomplish great things in the months ahead.

Thank you.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security