UCLA Labor Center Project Director Victor Narro provided comments for a recent Los Angeles Times story focused on a motion approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors yesterday that would allow noncitizens to lead certain county agencies.

“The citizenship requirement is really from another time period, but it takes a while for local governments to realize that those requirements no longer reflect the diversity of the society we have,” he said. “There are so many noncitizens that reside in L.A. County who are qualified or more than qualified for those jobs.”

“L.A. County can lead the way,” he said. “My hope is that other counties will get rid of those citizenship requirements.”