http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1405
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
Cybercast News Service
An 18-year http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2878), who advocated for federal legislation to give the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship, has been tapped for President-elect Barack Obama’s White House staff.
Cecilia Muñoz, who currently serves as senior vice president for the office of research, advocacy and legislation at the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4513, will serve as director for intergovernmental affairs in the Obama administration.
“We’re continuing to build a White House team that can rise to the challenges facing this country,” Obama said when he announced the appointment of Muñoz and Jonathan Favreau as director of speechwriting last week.
“And I couldn’t be more excited to announce Jon and Cecilia. I’m confident that at a critical time in our history, this White House will restore openness and accountability to our Executive Branch and help to put government back in the hands of the people it serves,” Obama added.In her new post, Muñoz will be responsible for managing relations between the Obama administration and state and local governments. She is a first-generation American whose parents came to the United States from Bolivia.
Muñoz, 46, said in an essay aired on National Public Radio on Sept. 26, 2005, that the anger sparked by what she considered a racist remark about Latinos made by a friend when she was 17 shaped her successful career as an immigration activist.
“My outrage that day became a propellant of my life, driving me straight to the civil rights movement, where I’ve worked ever since,” Muñoz said. “I guess outrage got me pretty far. I found jobs in the immigrant rights movement. I moved to Washington to work as an advocate. I found plenty to be angry about along the way and built something of a reputation for being strident.
“I’m deeply familiar with that hollow place that outrage carves in your soul,” Muñoz said in the National Public Radio essay. “I’ve fed off it to sustain my work for many years.”
Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told CNSNews.com that the director of intergovernmental affairs will play a critical role in the next administration, but it is a role that may be difficult for Muñoz to fulfill, given her background.
“Her affiliation with La Raza taints her ability to represent the broader national interest,” Dane said. “La Raza exists as a way to systematically dismantle enforcement and any semblance of discipline in the immigration system. Are we to believe that she is going to distance herself in her new role to represent the broader national interest?”
But Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told CNSNews.com that he thinks Muñoz’ activism gives her the skills needed to work with a broad range of interest groups.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=40162