Press Release: LULAC Applauds Senate Confirmation of Tom Perez as Head of Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

Perez brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position.

October 6, 2009

Contact: Lizette Jenness Olmos, (202) 833-6130 ext. 16

Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the country commends the Senate for the confirmation of Tom Perez as Assistant Attorney General to the Civil Rights division at the Department of Justice.

On a bipartisan tally of 72-22, the Senate voted to approve Perez's nomination as head of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.

“LULAC looks forward to working closely with Tom Perez and the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice to protect voting rights, investigate hate crimes and reduce discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, and national origin,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales.

Mr. Perez has spent his life working as a public servant and twelve years as a federal prosecutor for the Civil Rights Division where he prosecuted and supervised the prosecution of some of the Department’s most high profile civil rights cases including a hate crime case in Texas involving a group of white supremacists who went on a deadly, racially motivated crime spree.

“LULAC is pleased that the Senate has confirmed an experienced civil rights attorney to this critical post,” stated LULAC National Executive Director Brent Wilkes. “Only someone of Mr. Perez’s stature could restore the division to the tenacious defender of civil rights that it was intended to be.”

Tom Perez is a nationally known civil rights lawyer. Perez most recently served as Maryland’s Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. He was also a part of the Obama Transition Team, was elected to the Montgomery County Council from 2002-2006, and served as the Council’s President in 2005. He served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Attorney General Janet Reno. Perez served on the board of Casa de Maryland and the National Immigration Forum. Perez previously served as Special Counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy, and was Senator Kennedy’s principal adviser on civil rights, criminal justice and constitutional issues. Perez is a part-time professor at the George Washington School of Public Health.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

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