ICAS Bulletin
Institute for Corean-American Studies, Inc.
John Trasviña
ICAS Fellow
nominated
Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dear Friend:
We are pleased to share with you that President Barack Obama today nominated John Trasviña to serve as assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity
in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
John is former Special Counsel, Civil Rights Division, U S Department of Justice. He was nominated by President
Clinton and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in 1997 to be Special
Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. The Office of Special
Counsel was established in 1987 to protect U.S. citizens and other work authorized
individuals from employment discrimination based on immigration status. The Office
litigates claims and educates employees, employers and the general public on their
rights and responsibilities under the law in order to prevent such discrimination.
As Special Counsel, John was the highest ranking Hispanic attorney at the U.S. Department
of Justice.
For three and three-quarter years, John served as Deputy Assistant
Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice. From
1987 to 1993, he was counsel to Senator Paul Simon on the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee, the last 3 years as General Counsel and Staff Director to the Senate
Subcommittee on the Constitution. In the Senate and in his previous post in the
Administration, he handled numerous policy areas, including Civil Rights, Immigration
and Judicial Nominations.
A native of San Francisco, John was Deputy City Attorney there from 1983 to 1985 and Legislative Counsel to the Mexican American Legal Defense
& Educational Fund in Washington D.C. from 1985 to 1987.
A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, John is a long time member of Hispanic and Asian
American community organizations including the D.C. Hispanic Bar Association where
he is past president and the Hispanic National Bar Association where he was past
national vice president and regional president; the Conference on Asian Pacific
American Leadership where John served as a member of the board of directors; and
the D.C. Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs where he was vice chair.
In 1995, Hispanic Business Magazine recognized him as one of the 100 most influential
Hispanics in the United States. In 2000, he was honored with the Mexican American
Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Award for Excellence in the Legal Profession
and the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership's Distinguished Service
Award.
John was an invited speaker at the ICAS 2001 Summer Symposium where he addressed
"Immigrants' Rights and Responsibilities" and named ICAS Fellow on December 5, 2001.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sang Joo Kim / signed
Sr. Fellow & Executive Vice President
ICAS
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