The White House’s Woman in the Immigration Crosshairs

The Daily Beast ^ | July 31, 2014 | by Eleanor Clift

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Long before Barack Obama ran for president, Cecilia Munoz was on the front lines of the immigration debate. In 2000, she was named a MacArthur genius fellow for her work on civil rights and immigration. When Obama won the election in 2008, one of his first orders of business was persuading Munoz to join his White House staff. Those were the heady days when legislative change seemed possible, and an activist like Munoz could dream of achieving her goal from an office on the second floor of the West Wing.

It hasn’t turned out the way many Obama supporters hoped, and today Munoz is at the center of the controversy over the tens of thousands of Central American children illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico.

For Obama, and for Munoz too, this is about legacy. “She’s got a longevity with this issue, and it’s not just academic, it’s internal, it’s personal,” says Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council. Without her, Johnson believes the administration’s enforcement arm would have come down harder.

Asked how she gets through the long, crisis-filled days, with the attacks coming from longtime friends and allies, Munoz says there’s a big box of chocolates on the table next to her phone. Despite the disappointments, she’s confident of victory. “This (CIR) bill is going to pass and be signed into law—not if, it’s when,” she says. “It’s clearly going to pass and regardless of where I’m working that day, I will celebrate.”

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WIKI: Cecilia Muñoz (born July 27, 1962) is director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Prior to that, she served as the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. A longtime civil rights advocate, she worked as Senior Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a nonprofit organization established to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans, overseeing advocacy activities that cover issues of importance to immigrants.[1] In 2000, she was named a MacArthur Fellow for her work on civil rights and immigration. Muñoz was featured in several films in the documentary series How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories.

[kabar]

And the new head of ICE, Leon Rodriguez, has an equally suspect background. He was a member of the Board of Casa de Maryland.

Senator Grassley expressed deep concern that during Rodriguez's tenure on the board of CASA de Maryland, the organization published a booklet entitled "Warning: Protect Yourself from Immigration Raids." Grassley described the March 2007 booklet as instructing illegal aliens "how to avoid or minimize the chance of triggered lawful deportation proceedings." (Bloomberg Government Transcript, Mar. 13, 2014; see also CASA de Maryland Booklet, Mar. 2007) In particular, the booklet encourages illegal aliens not to give law enforcement their names, even though failing to do so is a crime in some jurisdictions. Furthermore, Grassley noted that "[s]ome press accounts also noted how the illustrations could be perceived as disparaging law enforcement." Grassley asked Rodriguez, "As a board member, did you have any knowledge of this booklet before it was published in March 2007?" (Bloomberg Government Transcript, Mar. 13, 2014) Even though Rodriguez noted that he was a board member until May of 2007, he said that he "was not aware of that publication."

[Da Coyote]

McArthur “genius”?

In what universe?

Face it, she’s a bimbo.

Period.

[tumblindice]

Entire article is a pantload but thanks for posting, I ordinarily wouldn’t read this drivel but it keeps us current with the Obamanites’ doings.
If Obama decides “Stroke of the pen, law of the land!” and my critter refuses to support articles of impeachment, I will work for his defeat next election.
No more money from Congress for Demo lawlessness!