WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's Cabinet is poised to become the first since 1988 without any Latino officials _ a huge disappointment for members of the nation's second-largest ethnic group _ as reports indicate he'll tap former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for secretary of agriculture.
Two Latino Texans were under consideration for the post: former congressman Henry Bonilla, a San Antonio Republican, and Elsa Murano, a former Texas A&M president and former undersecretary for food safety.
"We're extremely worried. This is anti-democratic," Hector Sanchez, chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, an umbrella group of 40 advocacy organizations, asserting that Trump is undoing decades of progress toward more inclusion.
Ronald Reagan named the first Latino to the Cabinet in 1988 when he picked Texas Democrat Lauro Cavazos for Education secretary. Cavazos, a former Texas Tech president, stayed on under George Bush. Every president since, from both parties, has had at least one Latino in the Cabinet at all times.
"Trump has not only been the most anti-Latino, anti-immigrant president in the history of the nation; by not including Latinos in the Cabinet he is just showing how he is planning to govern," Sanchez said, noting that Latinos now account for 17 percent of the U.S. population.
As Trump filled out his Cabinet, the options narrowed. For Agriculture secretary, Hispanic advocates had lately pinned their hopes on Abel Maldonado, a Mexican-American who served as California lieutenant governor and co-owns Runway Vineyards.
Trump drew about 18 percent of the vote among Latinos, a historic low for a Republican. Hispanic advocates call that unsurprising, given that Trump labeled Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, questioned the integrity of a Mexican-American judge, and called for mass deportations and a full-length border wall.
He's also surrounded himself with immigration hard-liners such as Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, his pick for attorney general.
Asked Wednesday about the dearth of Hispanics in the Cabinet, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said it was more important to pick people who can do the jobs well.
"He has continued to seek out the best and the brightest to fill out his Cabinet," Spicer said. "We have 5,000 positions and I think you're going to see a very strong presence of the Hispanic community" among senior administration appointments and White House staff.
"I don't have any concern about diversity," he said.
Trump's pick for secretary of housing, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is black. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his pick for United Nations ambassador, would be the first Indian-American Cabinet member. Transportation pick Elaine Chao is Taiwanese-American.
For Arturo Vargas, executive director of the nonpartisan National Association of Latino Elected Officials, "disappointed" is too soft a term for being shut out of such a powerful policymaking body. But he's not entirely surprised, he said, given the lack of engagement between Trump and Latino groups, until a private meeting last week with about 60 Hispanic leaders.
"What this does is it makes our job as advocates for the Hispanic community infinitely harder," Vargas said.
The group _ whose current president is Pauline Medrano, the Dallas County treasurer _ urged Trump to pick Maldonado.
"The most obvious thing it means to me is that he doesn't know Latinos. He himself and his team don't know who the Latino leaders are," Vargas said.
Alfonso Aguilar, president of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, criticized Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants but shrugged off the personnel snub.
"If he appointed a Hispanic I would have celebrated it, but if people are competent and they do a good job, I support that," he said, adding that the presence of Hispanics in the Obama Cabinet didn't keep down health care costs or improve job prospects for anyone. "Hispanics are going to look at this administration for the policies it puts into place."
Aguilar recommended Maldonado to Trump aides but called Perdue "a great candidate."
"I'm a Hispanic who doesn't believe in identity politics or quotas," he said. "It's not the end of the world. ... To think that we have a seat at the table just because (Obama Housing Secretary) Julian Castro is in the Cabinet or (former Obama Labor Secretary) Hilda Solis, is ridiculous."
