“In this role, she is going to serve the president and the Latino community well,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.
A former spokeswoman for one of the country’s leading immigration lobby groups will be the Obama administration’s new Director of Hispanic Media, according to her former employer and the person who held the job in the president’s first term.
Katherine Vargas, who worked for the National Immigration Forum in Washington D.C., will be succeeding Luis Miranda, who was the White House communications adviser on Latino issues.
Vargas will be taking over the position at a critical time for both the Obama administration and its mission to get a comprehensive reform bill passed this year.
“In this role, she is going to serve the president and the Latino community well,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. “Katherine did so much for the forum and for the issue of immigration reform, it’s hard to overstate.”
“She sees the bigger picture,” Noorani said. “She’s able to engage conservatives and moderates. She saw her role as speaking not only to the Hispanic community, but to all Americans.”
Vargas also worked at National Immigration Law Center, Washington Office of Latin America, and International Rescue Committee. She came to the United States in 1997 from her native Colombia, and became a naturalized citizen in 2009.
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