In an indication that the culture of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is changing, Manny Diaz, the immigrant-friendly mayor of Miami, was tapped to serve on the department's 16-member advisory council by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
''I look forward to working with Secretary Napolitano and other members of the council to find solutions to keep our country safe while welcoming immigrants who will contribute to our nation's interests,'' Diaz said in a written statement.
Diaz is a Democrat-turned-Independent who was an enthusiastic supporter of President Barack Obama. Late last year, it was reported that he was being vetted for several high-powered federal positions, including the head of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation or the Department of Homeland Security.
None of the appointments came to fruition.
Diaz, who will be termed out after this year, was elected mayor in November 2001. At the time, the city was bankrupt. Diaz is credited for helping to bring it to financial stability, and in 2004 was awarded the "Urban Innovator of the Year" award by the Manhattan Institute.
But he has also been dinged for ethics violations, paying a $250 fine on orders from an ethics commission regarding a conflict of interest over the city's purchase of some land, according to a critical op-ed to the Miami New Times by Joe Arriola, Miami's former city manager.
Before 2001, Diaz, an attorney, was best known for representing the family of Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old boy whose dramatic escape from Cuba to Miami in a lifeboat in 1999 resulted in a high-profile federal raid to return the boy to his father in Cuba over the family's objections.
Ironically, this means that Diaz was opposing the same federal government with which he would later hope to land a job.
