Guillermo Linares is a former Democratic member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

who had represented the 72nd Assembly District in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

from 2015 to 2016, and previously from 2011 to 2013. He is a former

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Council Member and a former New York City Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs.

Early life

Guillermo Linares was born on August 30, 1951, in the town of Cabrera in the Dominican Republic; he was the oldest of nine children. He shares the experiences and aspirations of immigrant New Yorkers, having left his native Dominican Republic in 1966 and joining his parents who gained residency through the 1965 immigration reform, he arrived in the East Tremont section of the Bronx, at just 14 years old. He began to learn the English language as he finished high school, gaining a General Equivalency Diploma from Theodore Roosevelt High School. Although initially discouraged from going to college by his high school guidance counselor, Linares was encouraged by his parents, who noted that as the eldest child, he had a responsibility to obtain a college degree. Taking on jobs, such as taxi driving, in order to pay for his college education, he became an American citizen during his sophomore year of college. He is currently married to Evelyn Linares, a public school principal. They have two children, Mayra and Guillermo, as well as a granddaughter, Ava and grandson, Dylan. He has often credited his family with being critical to his successes in community activism, public office, and academia.

Public office

In 1991, Linares became the first Dominican elected to public office in

and tied for first in the United States with

Kay Palacios The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own ...

. He served from 1992 to 2001 in the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

. Linares also served as a member of the

President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics is a multi-agency working group within the Department of Education charged with strengthening the nation's capacity to provide high-quality education while increasing opportunitie ...

, when President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

appointed him in 1999 as a commission chair. Linares was later appointed the NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs in 2004. In 2010 Linares was elected State Assemblyman for the 72nd District, replacing

Adriano Espaillat Adriano de Jesús Espaillat Rodríguez (; born September 27, 1954) is a Dominican-American politician. He is the U.S. representative for and the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress. He pre ...

who was elected to the State Senate. In 2012 he challenged Senator Espaillat in the Democratic Primary for New York's 31st State Senate district and lost 62-38%, after Senator Espaillat was defeated by longtime Congressman

Charlie Rangel Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the H ...

in the Democratic Primary for

New York's 13th congressional district New York's 13th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York City, represented by Adriano Espaillat. The district is the smallest congressional district by area in the U.S. The ...

months earlier. He was replaced by former Assembly Member

Gabriela Rosa Gabriela Rosa (born October 12, 1966) is a Dominican-American former politician. After being elected to the New York State Assembly in 2012, Rosa resigned her office in June 2014 as part of a federal plea deal. A native of the Dominican Republ ...

. In 2014, after Assembly Member Rosa pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and resigned, Linares announced he would run for his old seat in the 2014 election. He won a four-way Democratic Primary with 44.7% of the vote, and went on to win the general election with 91.5% of the vote. Linares was defeated for re-election in 2016 by

Carmen De La Rosa Carmen De La Rosa (born December 25, 1985) is an American politician from the state of New York. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, De La Rosa has represented District 10 on the New York City Council since January 2022. She previously r ...

after unsuccessfully running for Congress earlier in the year.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linares, Guillermo 1951 births Living people New York City Council members Hispanic and Latino American New York City Council members Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States American politicians of Dominican Republic descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New York (state) 21st-century American politicians