The first Latina US attorney in the state of Texas could become the first Latina chief of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department. A federal law enforcement official claims that the Obama administration is considering appointing 62-year-old Sarah Saldana to the post, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Neither the White House nor Saldana herself has made any public comment on the story. Saldana has been the primary prosecutor in Texas for the last three years and is currently heading the corruption case against John Wily Price, the Dallas County commissioner, which a very high-profile case and is not expected to be heard in court until the beginning of 2016. Saldana was sworn into her current position in September 2011 after serving in Dallas as a federal prosecutor. In 2010 she was a part of the corruption case in City Hall that saw Don Hill, the former Dallas mayor pro tem, sent to prison for nearly two decades.
If Saldana were to receive the nomination and subsequent confirmation, she would be the first female Hispanic to be in charge of the agency. The Wall Street Journal added that the White House is likely to want to move on the nomination as quickly as possible and take Saldana through Congress next month.
ICE has been making headlines for several months due to the influx of undocumented immigrant minors crossing the Mexico border into the United States.