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

Here you go, GeorgiaPeach:

Trump's New Pick for Secretary of Labor: Alexander Acosta

The Bush administration veteran, who served on the National Labor Relations Board and the Justice Department, is a conservative choice who would give the Trump cabinet its first Hispanic member.

David A. Graham
February 16, 2017
1:09 PM ET

President Trump announced Thursday he is nominating Alexander Acosta as secretary of labor, moving fast to bounce back from Andrew Puzder’s failed nomination.

Acosta, the son of Cuban immigrants, is an experienced former government employee, having served on the National Labor Relations Board, led the civil-rights division of the Justice Department, and served as a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida during the George W. Bush administration. If confirmed, he will give the Trump Cabinet its first Hispanic appointee. Acosta served as a law clerk to current Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when Alito was serving as a federal appellate judge. Acosta is currently the dean of the law school at Florida International University.

Trump announced the appointment with an unusually brief, vague comment at the start of a White House press conference Thursday afternoon. Acosta was not present.

“He has had a tremendous career,” Trump said. “I’ve wished him the best, we just spoke. I think he’ll be a tremendous secretary of labor.”

Trump wasted little time in announcing Acosta’s appointment, which came less than 24 hours after the withdrawal of Puzder, who is chief executive of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. His nomination, already looking troubled, collapsed Wednesday when it became clear that too many Republicans refused to support his nomination. Trump did not make so much as a statement about Puzder’s departure.

In a statement, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce called Acosta “an outstanding choice for this cabinet position.”

The speed raises questions about the White House nomination process—Puzder, after all, seems to have been insufficiently vetted. But Acosta looks like a much safer, more conventional pick than most of Trump’s nominees, and crucially, he has already been confirmed by the Senate for previous posts, which usually indicates a smoother process.

Acosta’s most immediately applicable resume line seems to be his service on the NLRB, which ran for approximately nine months between December 2002 and August 2003. The board, an independent federal agency with members appointed by the president, oversees issues like collective bargaining and union disputes.

He was then named assistant attorney general, the first Hispanic to hold that title, overseeing the civil-rights division. He was endorsed for that post by a wide range of groups, including the Hispanic Bar Association, the Arab American Institute, and the National Council of La Raza, which called Acosta “a bridge-builder, not only with the Latino community but with other ethnic and racial groups, adding that while “We may not agree with everything that Mr. Acosta has done or will do, but we are certain that he is someone who will listen and act in a fair manner.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...r-pick/516987/

Is this the same article you were looking at? I bolded a statement which could mean that these organizations many of whom we fight with may have supported him because of his education and experience, and the fact that he's Hispanic, more than his individual actions and conservative philosophies. The article calls him "conservative".

Immigration Hawks Sweat Trump Labor Pick

Brendan Kirby. February 17, 2017

FIU president Alexander Acosta advocated for easier migration, amnesty for illegal aliens


Alexander Acosta, President Donald Trump’s replacement choice to run the Department of Labor, advocated for easier immigration and amnesty for people who previously had come to the United States illegally.


Acosta, who served on the National Labor Relations Board in the George W. Bush administration, expressed his views at a 2012 forum sponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Network Conference. He called for “comprehensive immigration solutions” and lamented the failure of previous legislative efforts.

“We need them here. They provide construction jobs. They provide agricultural jobs. We need to figure out a way to address that.”

“Part of that means figuring out what we do with all the individuals that are already in our nation,” he said. “We need them here. They provide construction jobs. They provide agricultural jobs. We need to figure out a way to address that. We need to figure out a way to then have a pathway to further, future legal immigration. And if we don’t take it all at once, we’re not going to solve it. Because you can’t solve part of it without solving the other part.”


Immigration hawks expressed concern over those sentiments.
“He essentially advocates for amnesty for the basis for immigration reform,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform. “That kind of sounds like open borders.”


Although the labor secretary is not as intimately involved in immigration enforcement as other Cabinet-level officials, but experts say the Labor Department does conduct workplace inspections and help set overall labor policies.


William Gheen, founder of the Americans for Legal Immigration political action committee, said the views Acosta expressed at the 2012 forum are disturbing.


“It’s very clear that this guy is from the amnesty side of the aisle,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate that someone like that would ever be considered for any position in the Trump administration.”


Gheen also expressed concern that Acosta has been backed in the past by the the National Council of La Raza. The group, in 2003 testimony supporting Acosta’s bid to be an assistant attorney general, called him a “bridge-builder, not only with the Latino community but with other ethnic and racial groups.”


Acosta, who currently serves as dean of Florida International University’s law school, would add diversity to the administration. The son of Cuban immigrants, he is the first Hispanic named to the Cabinet. Trump mentioned Acosta briefly during a combative news conference dominated by dueling with reporters pushing him on allegations that his presidential campaign was in constant contact with Russian officials.


“He will be a tremendous secretary of labor,” Trump said.
Rep. Bradley Bryne (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, praised the selection.




“Alex Acosta has a clear record of protecting American workers and upholding the law,” Byrne said in a statement. “From his time on the National Labor Relations Board to his service as a U.S. Attorney, he has the background and experience necessary to excel as Secretary of Labor.”


Acosta also drew praise from the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.


“We are thrilled to work with Acosta on a host of economic and labor issues which directly affect our members and the Hispanic community as a whole,” the group’s president, Javier Palomarez, said in a statement.


After his stint on the National Labor Relations Board, Acosta became the first Hispanic to serve as an an assistant attorney general. After that, he became the U.S. attorney in Mimi, where he oversaw prosecutions of lobbyist Jack Abramoff on fraud charges and terrorism suspect Jose Padilla.


Other high-profile cases included founders of the Cali drug cartel and the son of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor. Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. was convicted of leading a campaign of torture against his father’s political enemies.
But it is Acosta’s immigration comments that are likely to cause the most consternation among conservatives. Immigration hawks expressed similar concerns about Trump’s first choice to run the Labor Department, Andrew Puzder, who withdrew his nameWednesday amid mounting opposition over personal issues.


During the 2012 forum, Acosta told the story of a Haitian women who paid smugglers to come into the country and endured repeated rapes during the journey.


“The cost of illegal immigration is not simply exclusion, but it’s the abuse of those individuals that are looking to our nation as beacons of freedom, and so we need to take it on, we need to figure out a way to address illegal immigration and give everyone a pathway to get here legally, in a transparent way, and in a fair way,” he said.


Mehlman, the FAIR spokesman, said Acosta seems to view immigration through the same lens as Puzder.


“He seems to also advocate for an unlimited, or virtually unlimited, flow of immigrant labor,” he said.




https://www.lifezette.com/polizette/...mp-labor-pick/

Oh nooooo!!!!

Judy, yes, that is it. Thank you so much. Having a terrible time today trying to copy things. Exasperating.

I agree with what you mention on education, etc., however La Raza and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce have no problem rejecting any Hispanic who wants no part of amnesty.

The head of the Hispanic Chamber had no problem speaking out against President Trump when he believed he would be strong on illegal immigration. He is back now, possibly because he believes some type of amnesty is around the corner.

What is tremendous donald is your wh is being run by ryan and preibus aka not as promised to your voters - perhaps that was the deal you made donald to advance to the post of more money making ability for you and your buddies. No time wasted with orders to destroy our lands, our health, ok pipelne, ok no epa regulations and more to come that plays havoc with our health, environment & vulnerable, endangered wildlife. I really do not see a sense of balance on these issues and am very disappointed.

Meanwhile a hundred here a hundred there of deportations IS NOTHING!

Plus he doesn't know the tricks or how to fix them to enforce our laws, Puzder did and promised to do so. Well, there's no going back now. Senate Republicans made a huge mistake not standing up for Puzder. It's not their first and I'm sure won't be their last.

Rule of Thumb: Any time the US Senate is going against Trump, we have to be going against the Senate. Just sayin'. The Senate has rarely shown it has the best interest of Americans at heart, usually the opposite. You watch, Acosta will be approved 100-0 or damn close.

Catering to these ethnic groups, especially those who are rabid for amnesty doesn't appear to bode well for those of us against illegal immigration. They will be expecting him to use his position to protect them.

President Trump gave Hispanics their person. I just wish he had chosen the best person for this important labor secretary job as it relates to attacking illegal immigration, no matter color or ethnicity. The best person to prefer American citizens. He chose someone from the amnesty camp again.

We just put this warning out to our networks, but with the funds drive deadline 11 days away there is not much else we can do right now.

https://www.alipac.us/f8/warning-tru...maldef-343732/


W

Warning: Trump labor nominee Acosta supported by La Raza & MALDEF


Posted By ALIPAC
02-16-2017, 02:54 PM