*EPF208 01/02/01
Civil Rights, Immigration Specialist to Head U.S. Labor Department
(Chavez favors immigration law reform) (540)

Washington -- President-elect George Bush has nominated Linda Chavez, a civil rights and immigration expert, to head the U.S. Department of Labor.

"Linda is smart and capable," Bush said in announcing the nomination January 2 in Austin. "We share a passion to make sure that nobody in America is left behind. We share a passion that says as the economy changes, our work force will be trained to meet the new economic opportunities in the 21st century."

Chavez, who served as director of the Civil Rights Commission from 1983-85 under former President Reagan, has called for reform of policies that would increase the number of U.S. immigrants.

"Next time you're wondering who to thank for this booming economy, thank an immigrant," Chavez said in a recent Denver Post editorial. "Mass legal immigration has been a critical component of economic growth over the last two decades, but one we too often either ignore or wrongly assume causes more harm than good."

Engineering, medicine, agriculture, meatpacking and tourism, are just a few of the U.S. industries teeming with immigrants, Chavez wrote. She argued that current immigration laws are outdated. It would be better to change the immigration laws to allow more people to reside here legally, she said, than to "turn a blind eye to those who are violating the laws now on the books."

Chavez also is known as an opponent of traditional "affirmative action" policies.

Highlighting her working class roots -- her father was a house painter with only a 9th grade education, and her mother worked in restaurants and department stores -- Chavez said at the Austin briefing that she will "keep faith with the men and women who still work at jobs like those my parents held." She said that she will "vigorously enforce" regulations against discrimination by federal contractors.

Chavez is currently president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Washington-based research group. She has held a number of political positions in addition to the Civil Rights Commission, including White House director of public liaison in 1985 and U.S. expert on the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights (1992-96). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She taught at the University of Colorado and the University of California Los Angeles 1969-72, was a staff member of the House Judiciary Committee 1972-74, and is a prolific writer for numerous newspapers and magazines.

Chavez believes education plays a major role in the employability of minorities. "Like their foreign-born counterparts, Hispanics born in the U.S. place a high value on work, perhaps too high for their long-term self-interest," Chavez said in a September 21, 2000, bylined article for the Chicago Tribune. "Until more Hispanic parents begin insisting their kids go on to college, Hispanic educational attainment -- and lifetime earnings -- will lag behind other groups."

Chavez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 17, 1947, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1970, is married and the mother of three sons.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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