Posted on March 16, 2018

California Appoints First Undocumented Immigrant to Official Post

Jeremy B. White, The Independent, March 13 2018

California has appointed an unauthorised immigrant to an official state post, a first that also functions as the state’s latest act of defiance against Donald Trump.

State Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, a Los Angeles Democrat who is running for the US Senate on an anti-Trump platform, announced that 33-year-old attorney Lizbeth Mateo would serve as a member of the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee. The appointment is unpaid.

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Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Ms Mateo came to Los Angeles with her parents when she was 14. She said in a statement that her experience as an undocumented, first-generation college student would inform her work.

“While undocumented students have become more visible in our state, they remain underrepresented in places where decisions that affect them are being made,” Ms. Mateo said.

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State elected officials have been similarly vocal in denouncing the Trump administration. Mr Brown last week decried the federal government “going to war” against California and slammed the administration as “full of liars”.