Last June, ICE agents descended on a Walmart parking lot in Pico Rivera with AR-15 rifles. One witness said, “It’s like we are in a war zone in our own communities.” That same day, agents drove onto the campus of Ruben Salazar High School, where 94 percent of families are Latino, and urinated in public view on school grounds.

That is what your taxes are paying for. Republicans have more than tripled ICE’s budget. At $85 billion, ICE now has a larger budget than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined–refusing to open that money to build schools, lower drug prices, or help you put food on the table.

I have been focused on the problems keeping families up at night. I introduced the Rental Housing Investment Act because California families are being priced out of their communities. My bill incentivizes builders to construct more affordable units fast.

I introduced the Child Care Supply Tax Credit Act because it can be cheaper to send a child to college than to preschool. Some California parents pay more than $20,000 a year. My bill helps providers pay workers a living wage and expand availability without adding more costs to parents.

While GOP leaders pump billions into the persecution of immigrants and Latinos, you are paying more for everything. That is the deal they are offering: fear, division, scapegoating–all in exchange for nothing.

ICE is behaving like an occupying force and must be rebuilt from the ground up. On Tuesday, send someone back to Washington who will keep fighting–fighting Donald Trump and his racist GOP enablers, fighting the special interests of the GOP is working for, fighting the fear they use to keep America from seeing their real agenda.

Latinos are not a threat to America. We are America. And on Election Day, we must make sure Washington remembers that.

(*) Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez is currently running to represent California’s 41st District.

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