When voters selected Joe Biden as the next president, Juan Cisneros offered a lukewarm congratulations.
Cisneros, a 19-year-old computer science student at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona, is still fuming about immigration policy under former President Barack Obama, who oversaw a surge in deportations and was famously dubbed the “Deporter in Chief” by leading immigrant-rights groups. An undocumented immigrant who moved to the U.S. from Mexico on his 7th birthday, Cisneros accused the president-elect in November of taking Latinos for granted though his efforts to rally Arizona voter turnout likely helped Biden win that state.
But late on Dec. 22, Biden nominated Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona as the next U.S. education secretary, elevating to the nation’s top schools post a Puerto Rican educator who began his own schooling career unable to speak English. The nomination was met with praise from groups that represent Latinos and English language learners.