Lizbeth Mateo, a California attorney and immigrant rights leader who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was just 14, has become the first undocumented immigrant to be appointed to a statewide post. Mateo will serve on the state’s Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee, which will advise the Student Aid Commission to help increase higher education access for young people. Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León celebrated the achievement:
"While Donald Trump fixates on walls, California will continue to concentrate on opportunities," de León said in a news release. "Ms. Mateo is a courageous, determined and intelligent young woman who at great personal risk has dedicated herself to fight for those seeking their rightful place in this country.”
According to her firm’s website, Mateo was ”the first one in her family to graduate from college,” attending California State University, Northridge and Santa Clara University School of Law. Newsweek: “California became the first state in the U.S. to allow undocumented immigrants to practice law in 2014, with New York following in its footsteps not long after.”
As California is under attack from Trump and Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III over pro-immigrant policies, Mateo’s work will be of immense value to students in need of a chance to succeed. "While undocumented students have become more visible in our state, they remain under-represented in places where decisions that affect them are being made,” she said.