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As the sun set over Solano County on the cool evening of May 18 and \u201860s music blasted through the speakers, thousands of energized Bernie Sanders supporters, including many Latinos, filled Vallejo\u2019s Waterfront Park waiting to hear from the Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
When the senator walked onto center stage he took the podium and microphone, and greeted a diverse crowd that welcomed him with cheers and chants of \u201cBernie, Bernie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHere is the truth,\u201d said Sanders. \u201cThe truth is that when people become demoralized and they give up and they give up their hope for America, they don\u2019t vote, and when they don\u2019t vote, Republicans win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders spoke on topics ranging from social and economic justice, to racial and environmental justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people will not elect a Donald Trump to be president,\u201d Sanders said, as he addressed the rally. \u201cBecause they will not accept a candidate who insults Mexicans and Latin Americans. A candidate who insults Muslims, a candidate who insults women, who insults veterans and who insults the African American community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders promised, if elected, he would fight for immigration reform, an easy path to citizenship and to stop deportations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis campaign is listening to the Latino community,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are 11 million undocumented people in this country and many of them are being ruthlessly exploited on their jobs. And they are being exploited because when you have no legal status, your employer can cheat you and do anything he wants to you. That is why I believe the time is long overdue for congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
In April, NBC News reported that registered Latino voters are divided between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders according to a poll, conducted March 30-April 3 by the Public Religion Research in collaboration with The Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that Mr. Sanders is the best candidate for us Latinos,\u201d said Mexican native Javier Suastegui, who now resides in Vallejo. \u201cWhat impacted me the most about today was Bernie Sanders saying he wants to work together and unify this country. I think if Donald Trump won the presidency, as Latino, I would feel defeated because he brings bad ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just before Sanders took the stage, an airplane pulling a banner that read, \u201cBernie\u2019s done! Vote Trump!\u201d flew over head, drawing loud boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Despite facing an uphill battle to catch Hillary Clinton, Sanders and his supporters believe that he can still collect enough of the 939 delegates still available to win the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to come out to the rally,\u201d said Moses Silva, a construction worker from Martinez. \u201cBut his last speech that I saw on television won me over. Even though he may not win with the delegates, my heart and my spirit are with him. Hillary talks like she\u2019s going to help, but I think she\u2019s going to do very little.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders\u2019 supporters stood strong, loud and supportive at the rally, despite the reality that he\u2019s behind Clinton, and would have to win large victories in the remaining states. Many people were inspired by his speech and were even emotional after the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so blessed to be in his presence,\u201d said former Genentech worker Cecilia Sistena of Fremont. \u201cI still have chills right now because I saw him so close and I could see it in his face\u2014how real he was. He\u2019s like the average Joe. I can\u2019t wait for him to be president, because when he is president, I could see the world being such a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders kicked off his Bay Area visit with a morning campaign rally in San Jose. Before arriving in Vallejo, Sanders made a surprise visit in San Francisco, dropping in on a rally supporting hotel workers at the Le Meridien Hotel.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, May 21 he traveled to San Diego and visited Friendship Park, a meeting place for separated families at the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of this tells us why we need comprehensive immigration reform,\u201d Sanders said after listening to the stories of families who have been separated. \u201cI would hope that the Republicans in congress understand that we have a very, very broken immigration system and that it must be reformed and that they should in fact work with Democrats to pass comprehensive immigration reform. If not and if I am elected president of the United States, I will use the executive powers that the president has to do that the best that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
California will hold its presidential primary elections on June 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 30395,30394,30393,30392,30391,30390,30389,30388,30387,30386,30385,30384,30383,30382,30381,30380,30379,30378,30377,30376″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] As the sun set over Solano County on the cool evening of May 18 and \u201860s music blasted through the speakers, thousands of energized Bernie Sanders supporters, including many Latinos, filled Vallejo\u2019s Waterfront Park waiting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":30388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3576,7],"tags":[8175,10021,10017,7717,5577,10025,8177,10015,10007,7241,10019,10013,10023,10009,10011,7657,7857,5587,10001,10027,10003,10005],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-30375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration-news","category-news","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-cecilia-sistena","tag-democratic-presidential-candidate","tag-deportations","tag-donald-trump-en","tag-friendship-park","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-javier-suastegui","tag-latino-voters","tag-latinos-en","tag-le-meridien-hotel","tag-mexicans","tag-moses-silva","tag-primary-election","tag-public-religion-research","tag-san-diego-en","tag-san-francisco-en","tag-san-jose-en","tag-solano-county","tag-the-atlantic-en","tag-vallejo","tag-waterfront-park","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n