Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, will be nominated for secretary of health and human services by President-elect Joe Biden, reports the New York Times.
Becerra represented Los Angeles for 12 terms in Congress before becoming the first Latino to hold the position of state attorney general. Born in Sacramento, he received his undergraduate degree and law degree from Stanford University.
As attorney general, Becerra has been outspoken against some of President Donald Trump’s policies. He filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over a policy requiring international students to attend classes in person during the coronavirus pandemic, and over its attempt to block congressional representation for immigrants who are in the state without legal permission.
“There’s no state, no area in the county hit harder, hit faster by this [memo], than California,” he said of the census controversy. “We will defend every single inch of ground in California and every single person in our state because the law requires it.”
Becerra has also fought for labor rights, including filing a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft over the companies’ insistence on treating drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.
According to the Times, Biden’s selection of Becerra comes at a time when the president-elect is facing some scrutiny over the lack of Latinos and Latinas in his incoming cabinet.
