By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Mon. Feb. 27, 2017: As Donald Trump ramps up his plan to deport immigrants from the U.S. and build his much touted southern border wall, it is a son of Caribbean immigrants who Democratic Party leadership on Saturday choose as its new chair to lead the fight against the Republican President and his party.
Thomas Edward “Tom” Perez, who was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Feb. 25th, was born to immigrants from the Caribbean.
His father Rafael Antonio de Jesús Pérez Lara was born in the Dominican Republic and earned U.S. citizenship after enlisting in the U.S. Army after World War II. His mother, Grace, née Altagracia Brache Bernard, was also born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States in 1930 after her father, Rafael Brache, was appointed as the country’s ambassador to the United States.
Perez, who attended Brown University, once worked as a trash collector, a warehouse and in Brown’s dining room and went on to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice and Secretary of Labor from 2013 to 2017, was elected in a close tense vote by Democratic leaders on Feb. 25th.
His election on a second ballot with 235 votes makes him the the first Latino chairman of the party, just as the Trump administration begins to implement the Republican president’s promise to build a wall on the nation’s southern border with Mexico, and to step up the deportation the millions of many immigrants already here.
And on Sunday he wasted no time taking the fight to Trump. The two engaged in an early Twitter battle after Trump tweeted: “Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!”
And later: “The race for DNC Chairman was, of course, totally “rigged.” Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!”
Perez responded shot back: “Call me Tom. And don’t get too happy. @keithellison and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare.”
On Saturday, Perez called Trump the “…anathema to America” and on Sunday morning on NBC he wasted no time in weighing in on Trump’s controversial immigration orders.
While discussing Trump’s order halting immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States on “Meet the Press,” Perez called it an “ill-advised and frankly racist executive action against Muslims.”
“We see no evidence, Chuck, of anything constructive from this president. Hours into his presidency he made it harder for first-time homebuyers to buy a home. A few days later he tried to make it harder for people to save for retirement. He nominates someone to head the Labor Department who wants to gut overtime pay. He is continually talking one way, but I judge people by their actions. Look at the ill-advised and frankly, racist executive action against Muslims. He has governed from the far right in everything he has done,” he stated.
Now it’s left to be seen whether Perez can keep up the fight with Trump and win, both by reuniting the Party, bringing new voters to the fold and showing immigrants that the DNC is not simply a Party that takes their votes for granted.
