New Labor Secretary Pick (La Raza, MALDEF) - R. Alexander Acosta

President Trump will announce his new pick for Labor Secretary at a 12:00 News Conference today. Media is reporting it is R. Alexander Acosta.

Here is a brief description of Mr. Acosta provided during his time with President George W. Bush. He received recognition from MALDEF.

https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archi.../logo1-150.gif

Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta



R. Alexander Acosta was selected by President Bush to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice on August 22, 2003. The Civil Rights Division is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights statutes, including those statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin in education, employment, credit, housing, public accommodations and facilities, voting, and certain federally funded and conducted programs.



Prior to his service as Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Acosta served as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"), an independent federal agency responsible for administering and interpreting the National Labor Relations Act, the principal private-sector national statute regulating labor relations. Mr. Acosta has also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division.



A native of Miami, Florida, Mr. Acosta earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard College and his law degree from the Harvard Law School. After graduation, he served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and then worked at the Washington office of the Kirkland and Ellis law firm, where he specialized in employment and labor issues.



Mr. Acosta is the first Hispanic to serve as an Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice. He is the 2003 recipient of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund's Excellence in Government Service Award and the DC Hispanic Bar Association's Hugh A. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award. He has also taught several classes on employment law, disability-based discrimination law, and civil rights law at the George Mason School of Law.

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Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/racosta-bio.html

MARCH 29, 2011Civil Rights of Muslim Americans Witnesses testified on discrimination and hate crimes against Muslim Americans. Among the topics they addressed were hate speech, law enforcement practices, anti-Muslim legislative efforts at the state and local level, school bullying, and employment discrimination.


Testimony at Congressional Hearing from Alexander Acosta

Transcript:

AT THIS POINT, PLEASE PROCEED WITH YOUR TESTIMONY. YOUR WRITTEN STATEMENT WILL BE MADE A PART OF THE RECORD. >> THANK YOU. CHAIRMAN DURBIN, SENATOR KYL, GOOD MORNING. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR HOLDING THIS HEARING AND THANK ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL PEREZ. GENERAL PEREZ MADE AN IMPORTANT POINT THAT THE PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES IS A BIPARTISAN ISSUE. MUSLIM-AMERICANS SHOULD TAKE COMFORT IN KNOWING THAT THE EFFORT TO PROTECT RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES HAS BEEN ONGOING SINCE 9/11, HAS TRANSCENDED THE PARTISAN DIVIDE AND I HOPE CONTINUES TO. THE TITLE OF TODAY'S HEARING REFERENCES AMERICAN MUSLIMS. I THOUGHT IT APPROPRIATE TO BEGIN BY DISCUSSING TWO SUCH INDIVIDUALS. THE FIRST IS A STUDENT AT THE LAW SCHOOL WHERE I'M NOW DEAN. HE'S ONE OF THE STUDENT LEADERS AND, IN FACT, IS A CANDIDATE FOR STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT. I ASKED HIM TO SEND AN E-MAIL ABOUT HIMSELF. I WAS GOING TO SUMMARIZE IT, BUT I WILL QUOTE IT IN FULL. I THOUGHT IT MADE A POWERFUL POINT. HE WRITES, I'M A MUSLIM, BORN AND RAISED IN THE UNITED STATES. I SUPPOSE BY MOST STANDARDS MY CHILDHOOD WAS NORMAL. I WENT TOLE SCHOOL, TRIED TO GET OUT OF DOING HOMEWORK AND SPENT TOO MUCH TIME WATCHING TV. THE TRUTH IS I WAS LAZY. BUT THAT CHANGED WHEN I WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL. I ATTENDED ESTERA HIGH SCHOOL WHERE I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE JUNIOR ARMY OFFICER TRAINING PROGRAM. IT TAUGHT ME WHAT IT MEANT TO BE A LAWYER AND WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY ACTIONS. I EXCELLED IN THE PROGRAM. I WAS THE FIRST CADET IN MY CLASS TO BE A CADET OFFICER AND EVENTUALLY REACHED CADET LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. WHAT I REMEMBER MOST ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL IS THE CONFUSION, THE FEAR ON 9/11 WHEN OUR TEACHER TURNED ON THE MONITOR IN TIME FOR US TO WATCH THE SECOND PLANE CRASH INTO THE SECOND TOWER OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. I KNEW MY COUNTRY HAD BEEN ATTACKED. SO I DID WHAT I KNEW WAS RIGHT. FIVE MONTHS LATER I ENLISTED IN THE FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD. I TRANSFERRED TO REGULAR ACTIVE DUTY ON JULY 27, 2003. IN LATE 2007 I LEFT ACTIVE DUTY TO GO TO LAW SCHOOL. WHILE THE STUDENT'S NAME IS MOHAMMED T.ALSARNI AND HE WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF ONLY 25 FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENTS IN THE NATION TO INTERN FOR THE ARMY JUDGE ADVOCATE CORE. HIS GOAL IS TO BE A J.A.G. OFFICER. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT A YOUNG WOMAN NAMED NASHALA HEARN. SHE TESTIFIED IN 2004. AT THE TIME SHE WAS 11. HER STORY BEGINS IN OKLAHOMA AT THE START OF THE 2003 SCHOOL YEAR. SHE TOLD HER 6th GRADE TEACHER SHE WAS MUSLIM AND WORE A HEAD SCARF AS PART OF HER RELIGION. THE TEACHER DIDN'T OBJECT AT THE TIME. SHE HAPPILY ATTENDED SCHOOL FOR THE NEXT MONTH. IT CHANGED ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2003, WHEN HER TEACHER ASKED HER TO REMOVE HER HEAD SCARF. THE SCHOOL PERMITTED STUDENTS TO WEAR BASEBALL CAPS, AND KIPPAS BUT WANTED HER TO REMOVE THE SCARF BECAUSE IT FRIGHTENED OTHER 6th GRADE STUDENTS. SHE DECLINED AND WAS SENT TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE. HE INSISTED SHE REMOVE THE HEAD SCARF AND WAS SUSPENDED. I AUTHORIZED THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO INTERVENE. EVENTUALLY SHE WAS PERMITTED TO RETURN TO SCHOOL WEARING HER HEAD SCARF. I SPEAK ABOUT THESE INDIVIDUALS BECAUSE I THINK IT HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES, CRITICAL PRINCIPLES THAT MAKE OUR NATION GREAT. THE FIRST IS THAT WE ARE ALL AMERICANS. LISTEN TO MR. AL DASARNI'S WORDS. I KNEW THAT MY COUNTRY HAD BEEN ATTACKED SO I DID WHAT WAS RIGHT. FIVE MONTHS LATER I ENLISTED IN THE MILITARY. THE SECOND PRINCIPLE IS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. NASHALA'S OPPORTUNITY WAS A CHANCE FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL TO TEACH FREEDOM. SCHOOL OFFICIALS COULD HAVE TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT AMERICA'S EARLY SETTLERS AND THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM TO EXPRESS FAITH. SCHOOL OFFICIALS COULD HAVE TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH BASIC CIVICS WHICH IS OUR NATURE IS STRONG TO ATTACK WITH PERSONAL RESOLVE. THEY TEMPER RESOLVE WITH WISDOM. PRESIDENT BUSH UNDERSTOOD THIS. HE VISITED THE ISLAMIC CENTER OF WASHINGTON TO REMIND A NATION THAT THOSE WHO FEEL THEY CAN INTIMIDATE CITIZENS TO TAKE OUT THEIR ANGER SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THAT BEHAVIOR. PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS UNDERSTOOD THIS AND HAS SPOKEN OUT AS WELL. TEN YEARS LATER AS WE APPROACH THE TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 I FEEL OBLIGATED TO CONCLUDE BY STATING THE OBVIOUS. AS A NATION WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THE EVENTS OF TEN YEARS AGO. EMOTIONS REMAIN CHARGED. THIS IS A GOOD TIME, A CRITICAL TIME TO TEMPER OUR RESOLVE WITH WISDOM AND RECALL TO REMAIN TRUE TO OUR AMERICAN IDEALS AND FREEDOMS WE NEED TO ENSURE THAT ALL PEOPLE IN THIS LAND ARE FREE TO PRACTICE THEIR FAITHS WITHOUT FEAR.




https://www.c-span.org/video/?298715...ans&start=5260

Oh! An Hispanic Civil Rights Lawyer .... received a MALDEF Award .... a former G W Bush appointee ..... dean of academia ... well that's certainly the opposite of Andrew Puzder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Alexander_Acosta

Trump's plan with Puzder was for the Labor Department to become an engine for expediting the re-employment of American Workers. I don't see that capability with this new nominee.

Shame. But Senate will like him, probably be confirmed 100-0.

I don't like this choice at all. Terrible. Amnesty supporter and MALDEF pick for recognition. Swamp fixture.

JANUARY 27, 2012Immigration Policy and the Hispanic Workforce Panelists talked about immigration policy, the U.S. economy, and the impact of national policies on local populations. Among the issues they addressed were unemployment rates, the role of education, and proposals for effective immigration reform. They responded to questions from the audience.


transcript:


NEED INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE WILLING TO USE POLITICAL CAPITAL, AS PRESIDENT BUSH WAS WILLING TO DO, TO TAKE THIS ON AND TO FIND REAL SOLUTIONS THAT ADDRESS BOTH THE ISSUE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND A PATHWAY TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IMMIGRATION, IT IS VERY CHARGED EMOTIONALLY. AND FOR ME, IT HARKENS BACK TO PRESIDENT REAGAN. SOME OF MY EARLIEST POLITICAL MEMORIES ARE OF PRESIDENT REAGAN. I WAS A LITTLE KID AND WHAT I REMEMBER ABOUT HIM IS HIS POSITIVISM. HE HAS THIS VISION OF OUR NATION THAT THAT WAS A SHINING CITY UPON A HILL. LATER ON, I WENT BACK AND LOOKED UP WHAT THAT MEANT. I FOUND HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS, HIS FINAL WORDS TO OUR NATION FROM THE OVAL OFFICE IN JANUARY AS HE WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE HIS PRESIDENCY. AND I BROUGHT THEM WITH ME, BECAUSE AT THE BASE SAID A GOOD TONE FOR THIS ISSUE. HE SAID, AND THAT IS ABOUT ALL I HAVE TO SAY FOR TONIGHT, EXCEPT FOR ONE THING. THE PAST FEW DAYS I HAVE BEEN SITTING IN MY WINDOW UPSTAIRS, AND I THOUGHT ABOUT THE SHAGGY THE LESS SHINING CITY UPON THE HELP OF THE PHRASE COMES FROM JOHN WINTHROP, WHO WROTE IT TO DESCRIBE THE AMERICA THAT HE SAW. BUT HE WAS AN EARLY PROGRAM, AND EARLY FREEDOM MEN. HE JOURNEYED HERE IN WHAT TODAY WE CALL A LITTLE WOODEN BOAT. AND LIKE OTHER PROGRAMS, HE WAS LOOKING FOR A HOME THAT WOULD BE FREE. WELL, THE REALITY IS, TODAY WE HAVE PEOPLE JOURNEYING HERE ON A LITTLE WOODEN BOATS OR RAFTS MADE OF TIRES TIED TOGETHER, AND THEY'RE COMING HERE FOR THE EXACT SAME REASON. BECAUSE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A HOME THAT WILL BE FREE. THAT IS AN EXPERIENCE THAT SO MANY OF US WHO GREW UP HERE IN MIAMI HAVE TWO THAT THERE IS A SECOND SIDE TO THAT WE HAVE TO TAKE ON WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IMMIGRATION, AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THAT HAPPENS ILLEGALLY. I WAS A FEDERAL PROSECUTOR IN MIAMI FOR FIVE YEARS. I HAD SOME EXPERIENCES THAT ARE TERRIFIC. I HAD THE PARENTS OF AN 8-YEAR- OLD BOYS SITTING IN MY OFFICE. THE BOY HAD DROWNED COMING FROM CUBA. THEY WERE IN MY OFFICE THANKING ME BECAUSE AT LEAST THEY WERE ABLE TO STAY IN THIS NATION, AND THEY WANTED TO COME BY TO SAY THANK YOU. BECAUSE WE WERE ABLE TO HAVE A FUNERAL MASS FOR OUR SON. WE'RE NOT SURE THAT THE PASSAGE FROM CUBA WAS WORTH HIS LIFE. AS A MATTER OF FACT, WE ARE REALLY CONFUSED RIGHT NOW, BUT AT LEAST WE HAVE FREEDOM. I HAD A CASE WHERE A WOMAN WAS RAPED REPEATEDLY ON HER WAY OVER FROM HAITI, BECAUSE THE SMUGGLERS, THE BOATS, THE COYOTES THAT BROUGHT HER OVER THE VIEWS TURK, AND SHE ALLOWED IT. BECAUSE FOR HER, THAT WAS THE PRICE OF PASSAGE TO OUR NATION. THE COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS NOT SIMPLY EXCLUSION, BUT IT IS SAID USE OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS COMING TO OUR NATION, SEEING IT AS A BEACON OF FREEDOM. WE HAVE TO ADDRESS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND GIVE EVERYONE A PACKET TO GET HERE LEGALLY END IN A TRANSPARENT AND FAIR WAY. >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH. [APPLAUSE] I WANT TO REMIND THOSE WHO ARE NOT IN THE HALL THAT YOU CAN SEND IN QUESTIONS OVER TWITTER, #HLN12. WE LOOK FORWARD TO THAT. WE WILL GET...






https://www.c-span.org/video/?303952-5/immigration-policy-hispanic-workforce

Trump's advisors need to be fired - like to see less of ivanka too at the wh

R. Alexander Acosta became the second dean of the FIU Law in 2009. A native of Miami and first-generation lawyer, Dean Acosta earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his law degree from Harvard Law School. After serving as law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Dean Acosta practiced law at the firm of Kirkland & Ellis and taught law at the George Mason School of Law.


Dean Acosta has served in three presidentially-appointed, senate-confirmed positions. He was a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. He went on to be the first Hispanic to hold the rank of Assistant Attorney General. Most recently, Dean Acosta served as the U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Florida, and was the longest serving U.S. Attorney in the District since the 1970s.


While Dean Acosta served as U.S. Attorney, the Southern District prosecuted a number of high-profile defendants, including Jack Abramoff for fraud, Jose Padilla for terrorism, Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. for torture, (the first torture case of its kind in the U.S.), and the Cali Cartel founders Miguel and Gilberto Rodriquez-Orejuela for the importation of 200,000 kilos of cocaine, which resulted in a $2.1 billion forfeiture. The District also targeted white collar crime, prosecuting several bank-related cases, including one against Swiss Bank UBS. The case resulted in UBS paying $780 million in fines, and for the first time in history, the bank provided the United States with the names of individuals who were using secret Swiss bank accounts to avoid U.S. taxes. Under Dean Acosta’s leadership, the District also focused on health care fraud and because the top district in the nation in health care fraud prosecution, charged more than 700 individuals responsible for more than $2 billion in fraud.


Dean Acosta additionally serves as the Chairman of U.S. Century Bank, the largest domestically-owned Hispanic community bank in Florida and one of the fifteen largest Hispanic community banks in the nation. He spearheaded the effort to establish the J.M. degree in banking compliance, BSA and anti-money-laundering at FIU Law. Dean Acosta also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Gulliver Schools, and has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine. He was named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. He serves or has served on the Florida Innocence Commission, on the Florida Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism, on the Florida Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission, and on the American Bar Association’s Commission for Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented Dean Acosta with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”



https://law.fiu.edu/faculty/directory/acosta/

People who were opposing Puzder didn't understand Trump's agenda with the Labor Department and the skills needed to do that. But this guy will be an easy confirmation.

So is he of Cuban ethnicity?

Bush administration intervenes to allow Muslim schoolgirl to wear scarf : U.S. takes opposite tack from France

By BRIAN KNOWLTON and
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUN E

APRIL 2, 2004

WASHINGTON:— The hallways of Benjamin Franklin Science Academy in quiet Muskogee, Oklahoma, are far from those of the tough, lower-class Paris suburbs where the battle was fought on the right of Muslim girls to wear religiously mandated head scarves.

The Muskogee school system is small and peaceful; its part-time attorney, D.D. Hayes, said he was far more likely to spend time poring over contracts for a new school gymnasium than over big constitutional issues. But this week the federal government came knocking.

The Justice Department is intervening on the side of a sixth-grade Muslim girl, Nashala Hearn, who has been banned from wearing a head scarf to her Muskogee school.

That is exactly the opposite approach taken, quite controversially, by the French government. The French ban on wearing religious garb to schools, the Bush administration said earlier this year, violated "a basic right that should be protected."

While Hearn is just one girl in a small heartland town, Muslim groups say she represents a growing number of American Muslim women who, as their faith has become both more conspicuous and more controversial since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, have chosen to wear their scarves, or hijabs, in public.

To Hayes and the Muskogee school district, Hearn's scarf clearly violated a system-wide ban on the wearing of hats, caps, bandannas or jacket hoods. To the Justice Department, however, Muskogee was infringing on Hearn's constitutional right to practice her religion freely.

Hearn, 11, has twice been temporarily barred from Benjamin Franklin Science Academy. The first exclusion came not long after the second anniversary of the 2001 attacks, the second after she returned to school a few days later, still defiantly wearing a head scarf.

The matter has caused what one resident called "a big hullabaloo" in Muskogee, a town of about 40,000 best known to Americans as a place people fled during the miserable Dust Bowl days of the 1930s — and a town with few Muslims.

The Justice Department this week filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and filed a motion to intervene in private litigation by the girl's parents.

"No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education," Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta said in announcing the action.

Hayes pointed to a federal Education Department guideline that "schools may not single out religious attire in general, or attire of a particular religion, for prohibition or regulation." Muskogee's blanket ban on all headwear, he said, clearly does not single out religious garb.

Islamic groups in the United States, and Hearn's father, welcomed the federal intervention.

"It's definitely a boost," said Eyvine Hearn, a Muskogee shipping clerk. "We're just glad to have such important support." Hearn said that he had "embraced Islam" four years ago, and that most of his family had followed.

Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Washington, said that her group had been trying to help the Hearnses. She applauded the Justice Department decision as a sign of its determination to protect Muslims' rights. "It's also good for other religious minorities —- for the Jewish community and the Sikh community," protecting the right to wear a yarmulke or turban to school.

She added, "On the international level, it sends messages to European countries such as the French who have banned hijabs in schools that our laws and interpretation of religious freedom are protected here."

But Hayes insisted that the school system had nothing but good intent. "We're not hostile to religion," he said. "We don't have an axgrind. We are simply trying to have a dress code." Hearn said that his daughter began wearing head scarves at the beginning of the school year without incident.

"The first several weeks of school, even the principal was giving compliments to the different types of hijab she wore," Hearn said, and a teacher offered the girl the use of an empty room to pray in.
Weeks later, some students complained that Hearn was wearing what amounted to a bandanna, though the school's dress code banned them from wearing such garb.
Since then, said her father, "it's just blown up."

The Muskogee schools were sued originally by the Rutherford Institute, a conservative civil liberties group based in Virginia, which asked the school district to rewrite its dress code to permit religious dress.

The suit was later amended to seek $80,000 in damages. The Hearnses family attorney, Leah Farish, has said the schools discriminate because they permit exceptions to the headwear rule, such as a cap worn by a child suffering from cancer, but allow no religious exceptions.

A Justice Department spokesman, Casey Stavropoulos, made the same point.

Hayes said he was looking forward to getting "some clarification" on how the Justice Department approach will be reconciled with what he sees as Education Department guidelines supporting him.
The French ban on such headwear in schools has drawn wide criticism in the United States.

Both governments have justified their positions in terms of law and national tradition. The French cite a history of secularism that marked a sharp rejection of the past entwinement of the Catholic Church and government; France also seems more intent on integrating and assimilating its Muslim population to a French way of life, with a state-sponsored integration program for new citizens. French citizens are expected to show allegiance to the values of the republic above religious or ethnic loyalties.

The United States, for its part, emphasizes a right to diversity and a constitutional right to freedom of expression and religion.

Cutting across both approaches is the question of women's rights, which some say are damaged when a woman is forced to wear the hijab.

Rabiah Ahmed objects to that thinking. "It is not the French government's responsibility to 'liberate' Muslim women," she said. "They're trying to integrate Muslims into society, and this banning of hijab is only going to isolate Muslim women even more."

Both countries seem to be reacting, as well, to recent events. France, with a large and growing Muslim population, has been wrestling with a recent upsurge in anti-Semitic vandalism, violence and protests.

The Bush administration has gone out of its way to show that even as it conducts a tough war against terror by Islamic fundamentalist militants, it has nothing against Muslims in general and does not want to see discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the United States. Their numbers, too, are growing, but they remain a far smaller group, in percentage terms, than in France.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/ne...ear-scarf.html

Go to Page 7. Unable to copy his words on hispanic gang members and reluctance to prosecute them.

http://www.americanbarfoundation.org...pring_2016.pdf

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV

CRT (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHES SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
WITH OKLAHOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT IN MUSLIM STUDENT
HEADSCARF CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice today announced the settlement of a lawsuit alleging that the Muskogee, Oklahoma Public School District had violated the constitutional rights of a sixth-grade Muslim girl when it barred her from wearing a Muslim headscarf, or hijab. Under the consent agreement signed by the parties, the school district will allow the girl to wear the headscarf and will revise its student dress code policy to accommodate exceptions for bona fide religious reasons.
“This settlement reaffirms the principle that public schools cannot require students to check their faith at the school house door,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate discrimination against Muslims or any other religious group. As the President and the Attorney General have made clear repeatedly, such intolerance is un-American, and is morally despicable.”
The Justice Department intervened in this case in March 2004, after an investigation revealed that the school district prohibited the student, Nashala Hearn, from wearing her hijab at Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, a public middle school in Muskogee. The investigation further uncovered that while Hearn was prohibited from wearing her hijab, the school district allowed certain other students to wear head coverings for non-religious purposes. During the 2003-04 school year, the school district twice suspended Nashala Hearn for wearing the hijab. Later, she was permitted her to wear the hijab pending the outcome of the suit.
The parties today signed a proposed consent decree, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, resolving the lawsuit. Under the six-year agreement, which remains subject to court approval, the school district will amend its dress code to permit head coverings for bona fide religious reasons and will allow Hearn to wear her hijab while attending the Muskogee Public Schools. The district will also implement a training program for all teachers and administrators regarding the amended dress code, publicize the revised dress code policy to students and parents and certify its compliance with the terms of the order for a four-year period.
The Civil Rights Division is involved in a number of ongoing religious liberty cases in schools and many other contexts. More information about these cases may be found at www.usdoj.gov/crt/religdisc/religdisc.html.

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All the traitors in Congress will love him. McConnell's not right often but when he's right, he's really right and one of those times was when he said that Andrew Puzder would be the best Secretary of Labor in US history. It's a shame we were denied that by a handful of Republican senators.

http://www.nationalreview.com/sites/...logo-print.jpg


A Tale of Two Nominees


Why do Estrada opponents adore Acosta?By Jim Boulet Jr. — July 8, 2003


Two Hispanic men of achievement have been suggested for high office by the Bush administration. You have undoubtedly heard of Miguel Estrada, a Bush judicial nominee who is the victim of a filibuster by Senate Democrats. You may soon hear of R. Alexander Acosta, whose prospective nomination as assistant attorney general for civil rights has provoked praise from the same foes of official English who oppose Estrada.


The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), while tepid regarding the Estrada nomination, is red hot in its support for Acosta because:

During his tenure at DOJ, Mr. Acosta played a pivotal role in the Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) Guidance enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires recipients of federal financial assistance to provide language assistance to LEP persons.

The Justice Department’s own press release on Acosta also refers to an award to Acosta from the “Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund.”


The group’s actual name, according to the Associated Press is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). MALDEF is strongly opposed to the Estrada nomination.


MALDEF gave Acosta its “Excellence in Government Service Award” this year “for his work on language minority issues, including initiatives on language access to government-funded services” (emphasis added).


The language “initiatives” commended by MALDEF are all tied to Clinton Executive Order 13166. E.O. 13166 requires all recipients of federal funds to function in Spanish, or any other language in the world, upon demand. So-called “Hispanic-rights groups” see nothing wrong with making Spanish coequal with English in the United States, even if the people those groups claim to represent are busy learning English.



Obviously, winning an endorsement from an anti-English group like the NCLR as well as an award from MALDEF does not constitute infallible proof that Acosta is himself anti-English.



Friends of mine assure me that Acosta was personally opposed to many of the anti-English policies he acted to strengthen. Or they say that Acosta was merely doing the bidding of his superiors. All of those things could well be true. And therein lies the problem.



As a rule, when a Democratic president makes a “historic first” nomination, his people ensure the nominee is firmly one of them ideologically. When Republican presidents pick people as the “first woman this” or “first Hispanic that,” the nominee’s ideology seems an afterthought at best. Accordingly, liberals get Janet Reno while conservatives get Sandra Day O’Connor. And the records of “stealth conservatives” like David Souter are not encouraging.



If MALDEF and NCLR are proven right about Acosta — and their track record says they will be — he is the wrong choice on both political and policy grounds.



To appoint a supporter of E.O. 13166 like Acosta as the chief law-enforcement officer for Clinton’s misguided language policy will ensure that all the expensive fallout from Clinton’s linguistic pandering lands at the doorstep of President George W. Bush. This is dreadful politics.



E.O. 13166 is also simply awful policy. It says to every immigrant: “don’t bother to learn English. We’ll tell you everything you need to know.” That is not the American way that, for over 200 years, turned millions of immigrants into proud, productive American citizens.



If the Bush administration is determined to name the first Hispanic to the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights, there are undoubtedly plenty of distinguished Hispanic lawyers who agree with Linda Chavez’s thinking about E.O. 13166. Such a nominee would ensure a sound language policy for the Bush administration.



As Morton Blackwell has taught generations of conservatives, “sound doctrine is sound politics.” He’s right.



— Jim Boulet Jr. is executive director of English First.



http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-jim-boulet-jr

We need a Uniform Code in all Public Taxpayer Funded Schools of Khaki Pants, Tennis Shoes and a Polo Shirt, schools choice of color.

Get ALL religion out of our schools, this is out of control. Get back to the business at hand...education! Reading, writing, math, English, Science.

Leave your Mexican Flag, your Headscarf, your Trash Wear, your Religion at the doorstep.

Don't like it? Then go to a Religious School of your choice, or Private School of your choice...paid for OUT of your pockets.

Do not like the School Lunch Menu? Pack your own lunch and pay for your own lunch. This is ridiculous.

Stop all of this non-sense in it's tracks...all of it.

Do the Jewish children wear a Yamaka? How about ALL the student's show up in religious clothing of their faith?

Would the Muslim's like this little stunt?

GO FOR IT KIDS, DRESS UP LIKE JESUS AND MARY AND THE 3 WISE MEN. THIS I WOULD LOVE TO SEE...GET IT ON TWITTER!

La Raza Is "red hot" for Acosta from article above. Well, I am not.

Yeah, it won't be American Workers jobs he's saving or protecting. We'll have to do that another way through the other departments where the business people are. Shame. Labor could have played a huge role in expediting what Trump wants to achieve, but he doesn't want another battle right now.

I think we have gone from bad to worse. His connections and actions are not reflective of an "America First" agenda. He will cry for illegal aliens, make claims that businesses and industry need them, support Muslim accommodations, use La Raza and MALDEF talking points.

Where were Stephen Miller, Bannon, Kobach, Jeff Sessions?

Priebus, Paul Ryan, McConnell, McCain, establishment swamp dwellers will like this choice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

All the traitors in Congress will love him. McConnell's not right often but when he's right, he's really right and one of those times was when he said that Andrew Puzder would be the best Secretary of Labor in US history. It's a shame we were denied that by a handful of Republican senators.

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Time to get over Puzder. He was a horrible choice and pretty much everyone on ALIPAC, with the exception of you, could see that clearly. He was a staunch supporter of illegal immigrant amnesty and increases in foreign labor. it would also appear he was a wife abuser. He was not fit to serve in any position in Trump's cabinet. He basically stood for everything we at ALIPAC oppose.

I'm not happy with this new choice either, but unfortunately, like you said, he'll probably cruise to an uncontested appointment if for no other reason than being Hispanic and working for the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. I guess Trump's team is thinking they can't take another chance on someone the Democrats would rail against.

Puzder would have actually been a great Secretary of Labor for what we want to accomplish which is why the Senate rejected him. It's a shame that these Republicans wanted to talk to the press and pre-judge a nominee before he even had his hearing and that's all the proof one needs to know Puzder would have done a great job for what we want to accomplish.

President Trump is holding his news conference now. Very disappointed. He buckled.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MW

Time to get over Puzder. He was a horrible choice and pretty much everyone on ALIPAC, with the exception of you, could see that clearly. He was a staunch supporter of illegal immigrant amnesty and increases in foreign labor. it would also appear he was a wife abuser. He was not fit to serve in any position in Trump's cabinet. He basically stood for everything we at ALIPAC oppose.

I'm not happy with this new choice either, but unfortunately, like you said, he'll probably cruise to an uncontested appointment if for no other reason than being Hispanic and working for the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. I guess Trump's team is thinking they can't take another chance on someone the Democrats would rail against.

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It wasn't Democrats that killed the Puzder nomination, it was Republicans.

Enjoy your new Sec of Labor and always remember, beware what you wish for.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach

President Trump is holding his news conference now. Very disappointed. He buckled.

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Yeah, he had to. There won't be any more business people after what's happened to Puzder who want to work in this rotten swamp of airheads.

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Originally Posted by Judy

It wasn't Democrats that killed the Puzder nomination, it was Republicans.

Enjoy your new Sec of Labor and always remember, beware what you wish for.

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Why do you say such things? Nobody wished for Acousta. This is Trump's choice, not ours. Pudzer was unfit, plain and simple. I'm just thankful 12 Republicans could see what the rest of us saw. To be quite honest I was extremely shocked that you came out in support of Pudzer and even more shocked that you regret his decision to bow out.

For goodness sake, let's look at the facts again:

- Employee'd an illegal alien for several years, yet claims he didn't know she was illegal.

- Has been an adamant supporter of amnesty for illegal aliens. Supported the "gang of eight" bill and was pushing for illegal amnesty as recent as last year.

- Preferred foreign employees, which included illegal immigrants, over American workers in the businesses he managed. Said they work harder (truth be known it's because they worked cheaper).

- He supports an increase in foreign labor.

- Wife accused him of domestic abuse.

You can say what you will, but this man was unfit to serve in the job.

Here is it..

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The final panelist was R. Alexander Acosta, Chair of the ABA Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities and Dean, College of Law, at Florida International University. Acosta focused his remarks on education, an issue that “undergirds many other issues” in the Latino community, he said. Florida International University College of Law graduates the highest percentage of Latinos of any ranked law school in the country, and is housed at a university that is almost 80 percent Latino, Acosta noted. Latino law students face many challenges, including a lack of role models, a lack of sophistication about the educational system, and a lack of knowledge about how to prepare for law school.

Cultural factors can influenceLatino students as well, Acosta said. The centrality of family to many Latinos sometimes causes students or recent graduates to curtail career opportunities. Often students must drop out or suspend their studies in order to work to support the family, Acosta said. In addition, recent graduates sometimes hesitate to accept excellent jobs or clerkships if they require them to leave their family’s geographic area. The percentage of Latino law gradsis actually declining, Acosta noted.“When you’re not advancing as agroup, you’re retrogressing,” he said, which means “we need to start thinking about these issues.

”Acosta also spoke about challenges facing Latino students at the secondary school level. Latinos, who make up about 25 percent of public school students nationwide, are over-represented in the public school system relative to their numbers in the population, he said. Latino dropout rates are very high. In South Florida, historically, for example, 21 percent of all high school students—many of them Latino—drop out after ninth grade. Only 50 percent of entering freshmen end up graduating from public high school. Some join gangs, but Acosta said, prosecuting gang members is not the answer.For every two gang members that are convicted “you get four more”because so many young people areout of school. But, Acosta said, “theschool to prison pipeline is just partof the problem…If you don’t solvethe educational problem you aregoing to have all sorts of problemsin terms of socioeconomic status…housing, and other issues. These arefundamental problems that need tobe solved because they lead to allthe secondary issues we’re talkingabout,” Acosta said.

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http://www.americanbarfoundation.org...pring_2016.pdf

Thank you so much Newmexican. :) I was trying to take a picture and other things.

MW, it's like the FairTax, you don't understand business. You don't understand someone's job in a business environment versus someone's job in a regulatory or government environment. Puzder can't be blamed for supporting Amnesty. The US Senate supported Amnesty, the President of the United States supported amnesty, most Americans at the time opposed mass deportations, you included, ALIPAC included, most States supported amnesty without the right to vote or pathway to citizenship. You can't blame a business person for a position that the majority of the country held especially when he lives in Southern California. You can't blame a business person for doing the job they were hired to do. But that's what you did. You couldn't separate his statements that were part of his job, from what his efforts and functions would be in a Trump administration when his JOB for US is to stop this madness and he had the unique skills and experience to be able to do that.

Puzder wasn't defeated by the Senate because of his past statements. If the Senate had believed he was an amnesty supporter, he would already be confirmed. Puzder was stopped BECAUSE the Senate knew he would do his job and re-employ Americans on a fast track basis and help Trump stop this madness of illegal immigration and excess legal immigration.

You just didn't get it. You've never gotten Trump or business or our economy. That's fine. A lot of people still don't get it. But more and more are at least figuring it out enough to be able to trust Trump's judgment even when they don't understand the strategies or the skills required to deliver it.

It's a shame we had 4 to 12 Republicans in the US Senate who put their own agendas opposite of what we need ahead of our country.

But celebrate, MW. Puzder is out, Acosta is in. You and a handful of Republican Senators should be happy. You won, you beat Trump. Enjoy it.

Puzder is not a wife abuser. She lied about that. They were getting a divorce, divorce lawyers use false claims of abuse to try to increase the settlement. Wake Up. Was he ever charged? No, because it was all a lie for money.

We have to all agree that the two picks for labor secretary have been for amnesty in statements. Foreign citizen sympathy and/or preferences does not seem like good thinking for such an important position.

There are people, business and others, who have never in the past or would not in the present advocate for amnesty. There are people in business here at Alipac and around the nation that know the real damage caused by illegal immigration. They don't like competing against cheap, unskilled labor and they do not like the population changes by massive illegal immigration and refugee resettlement. Lack of assimilation and cultural incompability adds to our frustration over immigration.

Business people, if those are the types you want because they have needed skills to do the job, will never make public statements against illegal aliens. Why would they? They are their customers. Why are they their customers? Because they're here and the government took no action to remove them. You can't blame the business people for their statements. It would be suicide to speak against them while they're in our country.

You want non-business people? You get people like Acosta.

Related:

https://www.alipac.us/f9/next-secret...erence-343721/

Anyone know him? Should he work on "Make America Great Again."?
I don't ever heard of him, so, that's my question...

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Originally Posted by Marci

Anyone know him? Should he work on "Make America Great Again."?
I don't ever heard of him, so, that's my question...

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Marci, I have not heard of Mr. Acosta before this selection. We are trying to gather information on him and on his positions on immigration and illegal immigration.

Alexander Acosta is linked to the organizations of La Raza and MALDEF, both who work for amnesty and for illegal aliens to remain in the United States.

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Originally Posted by Marci

Anyone know him? Should he work on "Make America Great Again."?
I don't ever heard of him, so, that's my question...

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No I don't think any of us here have ever heard of him. Maybe he's assured Trump that he'll enforce the laws and fix the Department of Labor. That's possible in our new climate and attitudes on the issue. We can hope for the best, because he'll be overwhelmingly approved by the US Senate, probably 100-0.

Trump's New Labor Secretary Pick, FIU Law Dean Alexander Acosta, Once Accused of

Creating "Rift" in Black Community

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017 AT 12:56 P.M.
BY JERRY IANNELLI

Donald Trump's original pick to run the Labor Department, Andy Puzder, was apparently too much of a liability to work in an administration otherwise staffed with enough red flags to dizzy a rodeo steer.Puzder was a classic Trump choice: As the CEO of Carl's Jr. and Hardees, he was accused of wage-fixing and cracking down on his own workers, and fought raising the minimum wage. But after an old Oprah Winfrey clip showing Puzder's wife accusing him of abuse made the rounds in Washington this week, Republicans balked and Puzder pulled his name.


So, Trump has now reportedly tapped Florida International University Law School Dean (and Miami native) R. Alexander Acosta to work as Secretary of Labor. Acosta, a Cuban-American who attended Miami's Gulliver Schools growing up, was formerly the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where he prosecuted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff for fraud, and former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne for corruption, among other high-profile cases.


He also served on the federal National Labor Relations Board, which likely makes him Trump's most qualified cabinet pick so far.


But that doesn't mean he's a particularly good choice. Unsurprisingly for the Trump Administration, Acosta has a less-than-stellar record with people of color already.


Acosta ran the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights under George W. Bush, from 2003 to 2005, but that's not good news. The Bush administration was repeatedly accused of letting the civil rights wing wither, and Acosta's employees were accused of hiring right-wing partisans and Bush loyalists over more-qualified people. This led to a full-on Justice Department probe into the wing's hiring practices.


So FIU's choice to hire Acosta in 2009 wasn't quite met with universal praise. As New Times wrote that year, some FIU professors said Acosta helped drive a wedge between the federal government and the nation's residents of color.


"Acosta's history in the Civil Rights Division has caused a rift with the black community," H.T. Smith, then-director of FIU's trial advocacy program, told New Times.


Acosta's office also presided over the bizarre "Liberty City Seven" trial, in which seven black Muslim men from Miami were accused of hatching a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. All seven men were members of an obscure religious sect in South Florida — while federal prosecutors alleged the men were hard-edged terrorists bent on murdering innocent people, many outside observers said portions of the trial seemed like a farce.


This is a breaking story. This post will be updated.



http://www.miaminewtimes.com/content/printView/9145549

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Originally Posted by Judy

People who were opposing Puzder didn't understand Trump's agenda with the Labor Department and the skills needed to do that. But this guy will be an easy confirmation.

So is he of Cuban ethnicity?

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Judy, I read Cuban-American.

Labor Unions like Acosta. They did not like Puzder.

That would probably be the SEIU that has a lot of illegal aliens members. Yes, they would hate Puzder. Puzder was the best guy, they just couldn't get the message out. Shame.

speak up

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact#page

Judy wrote (excerpt):

Quote:

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MW, it's like the FairTax, you don't understand business. You don't understand someone's job in a business environment versus someone's job in a regulatory or government environment. Puzder can't be blamed for supporting Amnesty. The US Senate supported Amnesty, the President of the United States supported amnesty, most Americans at the time opposed mass deportations, you included, ALIPAC included, most States supported amnesty without the right to vote or pathway to citizenship. You can't blame a business person for a position that the majority of the country held especially when he lives in Southern California. You can't blame a business person for doing the job they were hired to do. But that's what you did. You couldn't separate his statements that were part of his job, from what his efforts and functions would be in a Trump administration when his JOB for US is to stop this madness and he had the unique skills and experience to be able to do that.

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You have a bad habit of purposely setting out to demean anyone that doesn't agree with you. That needs to stop Furthermore, you made an inaccurate comment about me and others in your post that I don't appreciate. I and nobody here to my knowledge have not supported the "mass" deportation of illegal aliens. Explaining to you why something won't be done is not the same as opposing it. Your great at obfuscating facts to support your position. So far you've accused me of not having knowledge on a host of topics I've posted on. That demeaning tactic needs to stop here and now. Just because you don't agree with my position doesn't mean I'm not knowledgeable about the topic being discussed.

Oh, and I don't know why you seem to think making excuses for a full-fledged amnesty supporter is necessary. That says more about you then it does me.

Friends, Break Time. :)

I never addressed you MW. You addressed me. You set out to do something in your posts directed at me, which I think was to demean me. I'm just explaining to you that in my opinion, you don't understand business. I hold that conclusion based on your posts.

But please think what you want, MW. It doesn't matter to me. It really really doesn't.