LOS ANGELES -- The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the CHIRLA Action Fund celebrate the appointment by Gov. Gavin Newsom of Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris. We congratulate this son of Mexican immigrants from the San Fernando Valley and look forward to working with him in his new role.
With this appointment, Californians can be confident that the trend of having someone who understands the immigrant experience from the inside, as a child of immigrants, continues. Padilla will build on efforts Harris began in Washington toward immigration reform.
Newsom has two other appointments to make: for California attorney general, to replace Xavier Becerra, nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services; and for secretary of state, to replace Padilla. We encourage the governor to keep diversity front and center in his considerations, to ensure our representatives in high office look like all of California.
Please attribute the following statements to Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director and CHIRLA Action Fund board president:
"It's past time that Latinos in California had representation at this level in Washington. So often, we are invisible despite our countless contributions to the state's economy, society and culture.
"Alex Padilla, son of a short-order cook and a domestic worker, immigrants from Mexico who came here looking for a better life, today is the newest U.S. Senator from California, the first Latino in such a post from California.
"He continues a record of historic firsts, from being the youngest ever Los Angeles City Council president, then advancing to the California Senate, and most recently, as California secretary of state, protecting our sacred right to vote and fighting efforts by President Trump to muddle the census process.
"As senator, we are confident that Padilla will fight for and win justice for the millions of still-invisible immigrants in California and across the nation. No other community has suffered the devastation of families torn by deportation and detention like Latinos and immigrants, and he knows this from a personal standpoint. We look forward to fighting for fair immigration reform alongside U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla."
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