Last month, Democrat Julián Castro, former mayor of San Antonio and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Obama administration, launched his 2020 presidential campaign, highlighting his goals of universal pre-K, comprehensive immigration reform and medicare, and vowing not to take corporate money.
Castro was in San Francisco recently and spoke at a campaign fundraiser on Feb. 12 held at Minna Gallery in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. In an exclusive interview with El Tecolote reporter Gabriela Alemán, Castro shared his thoughts on a variety of topics:
You mentioned affordable housing earlier tonight. How do you plan to make housing affordable nationwide given that wealth disparity looks different across the country?
There are different approaches we need to take. Number one: we need to significantly increase housing supply, for especially people who are poor, people who are extremely low income and of course for the middle class. We also need to make sure, especially in communities like San Francisco, we can equip residents with the ability to stay in place if they want to. As housing gets more expensive, people feel a pressure to leave their neighborhood they grew up in, or that they lived in for a long time. So we need to dedicate resources so that people can stay in place if they want to, in addition to in a lot of communities, building affordable housing supply. But that includes direct investment of resources. That also includes expanding the low-income housing tax credit. It includes expanding the national housing trust fund that is meant to create more housing opportunity for very poor people. All of those things should be on the table for us to do.
You’re really championing universal pre-K. With so many teacher unions going on strike nationwide, how do you plan on supporting educators? If elected, how would you use the power of your administration to ensure that everyone is compensated equitably? Especially provided that those directly impacted are low-income Black and Brown youth, how do you plan on championing education?
I’m the son of a father who taught for 31 years, and my wife taught for about seven or eight years in the classroom. I believe that teachers should get paid what they deserve and they are often underpaid. We need to invest resources in teacher pay and also in reducing class size and also ensuring students have the “wrap around” services they need to succeed. So I’ve been glad to see whether it’s in LA or Arizona or now in Denver, teachers stand up not only for their own interests but the interests of the students that they’re teaching and I’m very proud of that. I look forward as president to work with school districts and teacher unions and states across the country and [to getting] more resources into their hands. Of course you know it’s not just the federal government it’s the state governments too, but we can do our part at the federal level.
A lot of people are wondering, is not being Trump and being Latino enough to win in 2020?
No. The number one thing I want to do in this campaign is give people something to believe in, something they can stand for, not just stand against. I’ve talked about a strong vision for the future of this country—of America being the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest, and the most prosperous nation for years to come. It’s not enough to be anti-Trump. It’s certainly not enough to say that I’m the “Latino candidate.” I want people to know what I stand for, what I’m going to do for them and their family, no matter who they are.
A lot of candidates have been been using the narrative, “no more locking up children in cages.” Provided that Central American asylum seekers, refugees and migrants are being directly affected, and earlier this evening you mentioned wanting to support asylum seekers, how do you plan on doing that? Obama said the same thing and he actually deported more people than we expected, and most in the Latino community championed him anyway. Do you have any comprehensive immigration policies you plan to implement if elected?
Definitely. During the course of the campaign I’m going to release a blueprint for immigration reform so that people can understand what I will do if I’m elected president. We need to build on the opportunity that we had in 2013 of comprehensive immigration reform that would have passed back then if it was voted on in the House of Representatives. I believe that in 2021 we’re going to have a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic house, and the lesson of 2009 and 2010 is: Don’t wait! I won’t wait. I’ll make sure we put forward legislation on comprehensive immigration reform and also that we change cruel policies like family separation. In the long term I believe for those Northern Triangle countries especially, what we need is to engage them in the equivalent of a Marshall Plan [in which the U.S. provided financial assistance to help rebuild Europe after WWII] to make investments so that … [both the U.S. and Central America] can benefit, and more people can find opportunity and safety in their home countries. Because people don’t want to leave their home countries if they can stay there. They want a good life for themselves, most people, where they live. And I’m convinced that Americans will see the benefit of a new kind of relationship with Mexico and with Latin America that will mean opportunity both for them and for us.
What makes you stand out against other candidates? I know Kamala Harris is very popular here in California, what makes you different?
I’ve actually had executive experience, as a cabinet secretary and as a former mayor. I have a life experience where I understand what it’s like to struggle, and I also understand what it’s like to achieve my dreams. So I can relate to people across the board of different backgrounds. And maybe most importantly, I have a strong plan for our country’s future, of making the United States the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous country on earth and policies to back that up.