ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – President-elect Donald Trump’s decision not to appoint any Latinos to his Cabinet is drawing fierce criticism from Hispanics, who call it a major setback for the nation’s largest minority group.
Trump announced former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday as his choice to lead the Agriculture Department, ending hopes that the last open spot would go to a Latino nominee. The lack of Latino appointments means no Hispanic will serve in a president’s Cabinet for the first time in nearly three decades.
The nonpartisan National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials had started a public campaign to convince Trump to nominate former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a Republican, to the post.
“This is a disaster and setback for the country,” NALEO executive director Arturo Vargas said. “The next time a president convenes his Cabinet there will be no Latino perspective.”
The move also drew condemnation from the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation’s oldest Hispanic civil rights organization.