Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spent about an hour Tuesday with about 40 of the most influential members of South Florida’s Haitian-American community.

MIAMI – Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Miami-Dade County Judge Lody Jean to replace Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge John Schlesinger, who resigned earlier this year. Rick Scott appointed Jean, a former Assistant State Attorney and Felony Division Chief in Miami-Dade County, to the Miami-Dade County Court in 2018. She was the first Haitian-American woman to be appointed on the Miami-Dade County Court and is the first Haitian American to be appointed to the Eleventh Circuit Court. Jean, who was born in Haiti to Lebanese parents, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and her law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law.