"Latinos are not a threat to the United States. We are from the United States"
Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez highlights how the Trump administration and Republicans created fear and division among communities
Last June, ICE agents arrived at a Walmart parking lot in Pico Rivera with AR-15 rifles. One witness said, “It's like we're in a war zone within our own communities.” That same day, agents entered the campus of Ruben Salazar High School, where 94 percent of families are Latino, and urinated in public view on school grounds.
That's what they're funding with their taxes. Republicans have more than tripled ICE's budget. At $85 billion, ICE now has a budget larger than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined—while refusing to spend those resources on building schools, lowering drug prices, or helping you put food on the table.
I have been focused on the problems that keep families from sleeping. I introduced the Rental Housing Investment Act to Congress because California families are being displaced from their own communities. My proposal incentivizes builders to develop more affordable housing quickly.
I also introduced the Child Care Supply Tax Credit Act because today it can be cheaper to send a child to college than to preschool. Some families in California pay more than 20 thousand dollars a year. My proposal helps providers pay living wages and expand availability without increasing costs for parents.
While Republican leaders spend billions of dollars persecuting immigrants and Latinos, you are paying more for everything. That is the offer they make: fear, division and finding blame, without offering real solutions in return.
ICE is acting as an occupying force and needs to be completely reformed. This Tuesday, send someone to Washington who will keep fighting: fighting Donald Trump and the Republicans who support his racist policies, fighting the special interests that control the Republican Party, and fighting the fear they use to hide their true agenda from the American people.
Latinos are not a threat to the United States. We are from the United States. And on Election Day, we must make Washington remember that.
(*) Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez is currently running to represent California's 41st District.