SAN ANTONIO – Presidential hopeful and San Antonio native Julian Castro said his immigration plan will put people first.
Several hundred supporters showed up for his San Antonio rally at Hemisfair Park on Wednesday evening, where he told the crowd he had a message for President Donald Trump.
The rally was a protest to Trump's visit to the Alamo City. The message for this crowd was that hateful rhetoric is not welcomed in the city.
“It’s time for the truth in this country, and the truth is migrants coming here are people, not animals. This country needs them more than ever before,” Castro said.
The San Antonio native detailed his three-point approach to deal with the immigration situation in the country. He's the only current candidate that has released his vision on how to deal with the issue that Trump has used as his platform.
The plan is reforming the immigration system to create order and stability for those who are in the U.S. waiting to become citizens or wanting to enter the country, creating a humane border policy including a restructuring of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and creating an equivalent of the Marshall Plan for Central American countries. This would get the U.S. more involved in stabilizing those governments and economies.
Castro also said he wants to see illegal immigration be handled as a civil offense instead of criminal.
There was a lot of energy from the crowd and Castro, but the 2020 election is still 18 months away.