Cecilia Muñoz reflects on her contributions to the domestic policy of the Obama administration, in which she served as director of intergovernmental affairs from 2009 to 2012, and as director of the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) from 2012 to 2017. Muñoz describes her transition from activist to administration official, and focuses on her role as a liaison between the administration and the activi st community. In both of her roles in the administration, Muñoz served as a facilitator of interagency and intergovernmental collaboration for all-of-government initiatives and responses to crises, and she provides details about key efforts including the financial stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the 2014 migrant crisis on the southern border, and police shootings. Muñoz also discusses the administration's immigration policy, and outlines her work to reform deportation and enforcement practices in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, and the development of executive policies including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) after the congressional failure of comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. Also discussed are Muñoz's coordination with tribal leaders and governments, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, the administration's provision of technical support and advisement to the city of Detroit following its 2013 bankruptcy, and the experience of women and women of color in government and in the Obama White House
Presidents--United States; H1N1 influenza--Government policy--United States; BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010; Police shootings--United States; Emigration and immigration--Government policy--United States; Children of noncitizens--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States; Muñoz, Cecilia; Obama, Barack; Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (U.S.); United States. Department of Homeland Security; United States. White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; United States; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2020
Physical Description
140 pages
Note (Biographical)
Cecilia Muñoz is a policy advisor and leading figure in the immigrants' rights movement who served in the Obama administration for all eight years. From 2009 to 2012 she served as director of intergovernmental affairs, and from 2012 to 2017 she serve d as director of the Domestic Policy Council. Before her work in government, Muñoz was senior vice president for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza. She also held leadership and board positions at the Center for Community Change, Atlantic Philanthropies, the National Immigration Forum, and the Open Society Institute. In 2000, Muñoz was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for her work on immigration and civil rights policy. At the time of the interview, she is a senior advisor at the New America Foundation
Note
Interviewed by Nicole R. Hemmer on November 21, 2019, and July 13 and August 14, 2020. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Cecilia Muñoz, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023