Cabinet complete; no Latinos for 1st time since ’89

ALBUQUERQUE — 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 since 1989.

The nonpartisan National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials had started a public campaign to persuade 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.

“Instead of assembling a talented and diverse Cabinet that would help advance the interests of all Americans, Trump has broken with the bipartisan precedent of past presidential administrations and has missed a major opportunity to shed the racial and ethnic divisiveness that were hallmarks of his presidential campaign,” LULAC National Executive Director Brent Wilkes said.

“It is deeply disappointing that the president-elect is ignoring the fastest growing and economically dynamic community in the country,” said former Energy secretary and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, whose mother was from Mexico. “Maybe it is payback for his dismal showing with Latinos in the general election.”