Immigration On The Mind As Julian Castro Visits Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A high-ranking Obama administration official visiting Minneapolis Wednesday said Republican presidential candidates are "caricaturing" and "stereotyping" Latino voters with false claims about immigration and crime.
The visit by Housing Secretary Julian Castro comes one day after a prominent Latino anchorman was ejected from a Donald Trump press conference.
Castro was in town to mobilize Latino voters for the 2016 election, with an unrelenting focus on immigration.
He called it "the best of times, and the worst of times."
"The Latino destiny and America's destiny are intertwined," he told about 50 people at a meeting of Unidos Votamos, or "We All Vote."
"For all of the progress that has been made, there's still more progress that we need to make," he said.
The 40-year old former mayor of San Antonio is rising quickly in national politics.
His visit comes one day after Univision anchorman Jorge Ramos was ejected from a Donald Trump press conference.
A Republican presidential campaign that Castro said has inflamed Latinos with talk of immigration and "anchor babies."
"And you see Donald Trump and Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal, all of these all of these guys talking about anchor babies," he said, "and reducing the birth of a human being to the idea that somebody is trying to game the system! Stereotyping and caricaturing and disrespecting the Latino community. "
Although Hispanics make up one of the fastest growing populations in Minnesota, their voter turnout is less than 50 percent.
Organizers of Unidos Votamos say they hope to change that in 2016.
"It's not enough to be kind of frustrated by some of the things we see out there," said Alberto Monserrate, a spokesman for the group. "We have to do something about it. And what better than to get out there and vote."
Castro is considered a possible vice presidential candidate on the 2016 Democratic ticket.