The champion of the Democrats’ most far Left immigration policies emerged from the first debate of the 2020 presidential campaign as the virtual ‘favorite son’ of debate sponsor Telemundo.
Immediately following the debate, Telemundo’s cheerleading squad kicked into high gear, with visceral expressions of support from both journalist Carmen Márquez and Latino Victory Fund Vice President Mayra Macías:
CARMEN MÁRQUEZ, JOURNALIST: As María Elena says, ever since Julián Castro began his campaign he’s been with our immigrant community, right? He’s visited many pro immigrant organizations on our borders. In Arizona, in California, in Texas. He knows what he is talking about, right? And he’s a Mexican-American, a Latino in the race and it makes me proud to have a Mexican-American candidate, right, who really understands what many of us go through and who are the people who live along the borders.
MAYRA MACIAS, VICE PRESIDENT, LATINO VICTORY FUND: Look, as soon as Julián came out on the stage I got chills. To see a Latino talk about his Mom who raised two great men, a Congressman and a Secretary who will be... well who is running to be the President, and all of the proposals that he is, is advancing proposals directly affecting the Latino community.
Castro was also the only candidate featured in a live interview as part of Telemundo’s post-debate coverage. In response to a question from correspondent Cristina Londoño, Castro made the case for why his plan represents “hope for the Central Americans who are arriving at the borders.”
CRISTINA LONDOÑO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Why is your plan going to be the difference and why is it a hope for the Central Americans who are arriving at the borders?
JULIAN CASTRO, CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT: Because my plan is going to respect those who, uh, want asylum and it is going to treat them with compassion and humanity, not cruelty. And it will end President Trump’s proposed ‘metering’ and ‘zero tolerance policy.’ And I also am going to end the, ah, 1325 section.
If elected, Castro has pledged to decriminalize irregular entry into the U.S. by a foreign national (by eliminating Section 1325 of the U.S. Code), secure U.S. citizenship for more than 11 million people currently in the country unlawfully, as well as for the current DACA and TPS populations, eliminate the Section 287(g) program of cooperation between federal and local authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration law, break up ICE, increase refugee admissions and end border wall construction, among other measures.
In the wake of Castro’s Democrat crowd-pleasing debate performance, lone conservative on the Telemundo panel Dan Garza, President of the LIBRE Initiative, commented that “perhaps he has at least guaranteed for himself the vice presidency” on the Democratic ticket.
Castro has enjoyed steady presidential boosterism for the better part of a decade, on both Telemundo and Univision.
