DANR URGES CONGRESS TO CONFIRM THOMAS PEREZ AS ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
8 June 2009
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 Washington, DC - June 3, 2009 - The Dominican American Roundtable (DANR) called on the U.S. Congress to confirm Thomas Perez as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Perez’s nomination was announced by The White House on March 13, 2009. “Perez’s extensive experience, at all levels of government, has been enforcing anti-discrimination laws,” said Néstor Montilla, DANR President. “Our nation needs this vital position filled in short order by a staunch defender of civil rights; Thomas Perez is such a person. A review of his professional record reveals a history of continuous work of excellence that makes him a nationally recognized civil rights lawyer and consumer advocate,” stated Montilla. “As the child of Dominican immigrants his nomination is a source of pride to all Dominican Americans.” Thomas Perez’s father, a doctor, fled the Dominican Republic and Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship. He was subsequently drafted into the U.S. Army even though he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. Meanwhile, Perez’s mother also fled Trujillo because her father, the Dominican Ambassador to the United States, criticized the dictator. The two exiles met and married, settling in Buffalo, NY, where Dr. Perez worked in a veteran’s hospital and where Thomas, one of five children, was born. Then, when Tom was only 12, a fatal heart attack struck his father, leaving young Tom with a deep appreciation for the brevity of life and the importance of time. Ever since he has lived a break-neck career while keeping in shape (three Boston marathons) and coaching his children’s basketball and baseball teams. Tom’s intelligence and hustle won him scholarships to Brown University (where he also worked in the dining hall) and Harvard Law School where he graduated cum laude. Next he obtained a degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School, clerked for a federal judge and went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice as a civil rights prosecutor. For seven years, he traveled the country working on several high profile cases including the South Bay Nazi Youth, for randomly shooting blacks in Lubbock, Texas; prosecuting corrupt Oakland, CA police officers for stealing drugs and cash from dealers; and a Federal Border Patrol agent who murdered an illegal immigrant. |
| From 1988 to 1995, Perez worked on U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s staff and was later appointed Director of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Meanwhile, back in Montgomery County, he helped establish CASA, the Latino advocacy organization and got involved in local politics. He served in the Clinton administration as Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and was a strong advocate for cultural competence in all HHS programs. He helped to secure an Executive Order that significantly improved access to services for people with limited English proficiency. As a member and later President of, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors from 2002 to 2006, he led efforts to make health care more accessible to the county’s residents (including the uninsured) and to secure discounted prescription benefits. President Obama has tapped Perez to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, answering directly to Attorney General Eric Holder. “This nomination is well deserved and Perez is more than up to the task at hand. To further delay the confirmation does a disservice to all Americans and those currently seeking justice in the court of law,” concluded President Montilla. |
| About the Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR) Established in 1997, the Dominican American National Roundtable is a non-profit organization with the mission to advocate for the empowerment of Dominicans and Dominican Americans in the United States and it’s territories. Based in Washington, DC, the DANR is the first and only national organization advocating on behalf of over one million Dominican Americans in the areas of education, health, economic development, immigration, and civic empowerment. For more information contact DANR at 1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036 or visit http://www.danr.org. # # # |
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