Nominee for Secretary of Labor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2013

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, 213-400-7822, [email protected]

Secretary of Labor Nominee Is a Strong Supporter of Immigrant Workers

Tom Perez’s Voice Will Be a Valuable Contribution to the Immigration Debate, Says Marielena Hincapié of National Immigration Law Center

WASHINGTON — President Obama today announced that Tom Perez, the current assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, would be his nominee for secretary of labor. Before assuming his post at the Department of Justice, Perez served as secretary of labor in Maryland. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

“We applaud the Obama administration for nominating Tom Perez for this important position that greatly impacts low-wage immigrant workers. Tom has dedicated his career to defending the basic rights of all people, no matter where they were born. Nowhere is this type of dedication more necessary than in the chief federal official in charge of enforcing our labor laws. We hope that, as the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, he will continue in former Secretary Hilda Solis’s footsteps and fight to ensure that immigrant workers are not left vulnerable to exploitation at the workplace and that abusive employers are not permitted to have an economic advantage over those businesses that play by the rules.

“Under his leadership, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has protected our constitutional rights by challenging racial profiling laws in Arizona, Alabama, and elsewhere. Tom’s voice—as an advocate for workers, families, and immigrants—will be a valuable contribution to the immigration reform debate as it heats up on a national level. We call on the Senate to confirm this nomination promptly.”

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