The Group seated itself roughly in order of seniority. Torres took the chair closest to Frank’s desk. Next to him was Wade Henderson, ACLU legislative counsel and a seasoned lobbyist. Warren Leiden, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and The Group’s technical expert on immigration law, was next, along with the National Council of Churches’ Michael Myers, who represented the refugee resettlement organizations likely to play a huge role in processing undocumented immigrants if a legalization or “amnesty” program was enacted. Bringing up the rear were Torres’ deputy, Joe Trevino[1] and Charles Kamasaki, policy analysis director of the National Council of La Raza, the junior member of The Group.[i]
Brash, smart, mercurial, and intense, Arnoldo Torres was, in 1984, the most visible and outspoken Hispanic advocate in DC, often to the consternation of his more senior Latino organizational peers. He approached his mission of advancing Latino interests with almost religious fervor, combined with more than usual amount of sanctimony. Torres’ ascendancy to the top tier of Latino advocacy on the issue of immigration policy inside the Beltway was, in many ways, anomalous. For one thing, Torres represented what traditionally had been among the most conservative of the major Hispanic civil rights organizations – it was no accident that the last word in LULAC’s name was “citizens,” a term historically meant to distinguish LULAC’s more elite business-oriented constituency from the poorer, less educated Latino immigrants in the community. And although LULAC was known for its “work within the system” ethos whose leaders invariably were respectful of those holding high office, Torres was often provocative, saying things to elected officials that they rarely heard from others.”[ii] ….
There was very little in Torres’ past to suggest that he would eventually become a national Hispanic leader or a well-known lobbyist. After graduating from the University of the Pacific, he served for two years in the Legislative Analyst office of the California State Assembly―something like a combination of the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C.―a prestigious post to be sure, but an office normally populated by studious introverts and bureaucrats, not firebrands. But in at least one respect Torres looked the part; he was always perfectly coiffed and beautifully dressed, and looked like a GQ model. Joe Trevino would confide to his colleagues his amazement that, “Arnold has one closet of just shirts, all pressed, organized by color. He has another whole closet full of suits, divided by color and weight.” Nonetheless, Trevino would emphasize, Torres was no “dandy”; he’d played on both the varsity soccer and intramural rugby teams in college, and had no shortage of physical courage and toughness. [iii]
Torres didn’t smoke, drink, or curse, and made sure everyone around him knew it. He hated the smell of smoke. Although many in The Group were pack-a-day-plus smokers, and at a time when even Congressional hearing rooms had ashtrays available, they never smoked in meetings when Torres was present. It was clear that Frank’s unmistakable display of keeping The Group waiting, while leisurely reading and smoking, was irritating Torres. The Group waited, quietly at first, for several minutes that felt like an eternity before Torres quietly cleared his throat. Torres had a habit of throat clearing at least once during every conversation; whether this was a physical problem or just a nervous habit was never clear to even his closest friends and colleagues.
Frank noted the interruption, peered over the top of his newspaper at Torres for a few seconds, and then promptly resumed reading. Barney Frank was not your typical Congressman. Brilliant, witty, and loquacious, Frank was first elected to Congress in 1980, winning the seat previously held by the liberal Catholic Priest, Rep. Robert Drinan. Having crushed longtime incumbent Republican Margaret Heckler in 1982 when redistricting forced them to run against each other, he was on a roll. Frank was, together with classmate Chuck Schumer (D-NY), one of the hottest young stars in Congress on the Judiciary Committee, which had jurisdiction over immigration issues….Frank was a key supporter of the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill, one who was being counted on to protect Mazzoli’s vulnerable “left flank” in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives….
By now The Group had been kept waiting at least 10 minutes inside the office, and perhaps 10 minutes previously in the hallway, while Frank read, and smoked, and read some more. It was getting way past the awkward stage. Kamasaki had never before experienced the metaphorical “tension in a room so thick it could be cut with a knife,” but he felt it now….
Torres cleared his throat again, possibly from his sensitivity to the smoke, or more likely due to impatience, loudly and unmistakably this time. Frank laid his paper aside. He put the cigar into an ashtray. He checked his watch. He took a couple of swigs of coffee. He glared at the group for a few seconds. Then he said, “OK, I’ve got 15 minutes. Tell me what you got. Shoot!”[iv]
[1] Joseph Michael Trevino, then Deputy Executive Director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, had been known to friends and family as “Michael” much of his life; because Torres always referred to him as “Joe,” the rest of The Group knew him by that name as well. Although “J. Michael” Trevino went onto have a successful career first with Gulf Oil Company and later as a management consultant, he is referred to in this text as “Joe,” the name most of his colleagues in immigration advocacy circles called him and knew him by in the 1980s.
[i] “The Group” was first described in the literature by Christine Marie Sierra in “Latino Organizational Strategies on Immigration Reform: Success and Limits in Public Policymaking,” Roberto E. Villarreal and Norma G. Hernandez, eds., Latinos and Political Coalitions, Praeger Publishers, 1991.
[ii] Ben Zimmer, “The Unrestrained Speech of the ‘Filterless,’” Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2015.
[iii] Author interview with Joe Trevino, October 2, 2012.
[iv] Author interview with Arnoldo Torres, November 1, 2013.
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