Hillary Clinton continued to amplify her support for a pathway to citizenship, particularly for young Latino immigrants commonly known as DREAMers, in a new campaign video released Wednesday morning.
In the video, called “Sueños” or “Dreams,” Clinton is seen meeting with a small group of young Latino immigrants at a roundtable discussion she held at Rancho High School in Las Vegas who are telling her about their goals for the future. One young woman, Betsaida Frausto, who arrived in the United States when she was two, tells Clinton she wants to go to Yale and become a doctor but won’t be able to fully realize her dream because she is not a citizen. Another young man, Rafael Lopez, who arrived when he was one, tells the story of how his parents were given a deportation order after being in the United States for 15 years.
“I’m not about to let anybody who can make a contribution to our economy and our society get thrown away,” Clinton tells the group.
In addition to scenes from Clinton’s meeting with the DREAMers, the video contains scenes from a Clinton campaign rally where a young woman addresses the crowd in Spanish.
The Clinton campaign released the bilingual video one day after Clinton addressed a crowd of thousands of Latinos at the National Council of La Raza in Kansas City. In her speech there, she called for a clear path to citizenship for young immigrants and highlighted economic inequities Latinos face in the United States including the millions of Latino youth that cannot find work and the fact that Latinas make just 56 cents on the dollar compared to white men.
Clinton also called out Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush for comments he made about Americans having to work harder.
“He should tell that to the farmworkers breaking their backs picking fruit in Southern California,” Clinton said to a rousing applause from the crowd.
Bush aides have argued that his comments were taken out of context and said he meant that more part-time workers need full-time jobs.
In addition to her speech at La Raza, the largest Latino civil rights group in the country, Clinton has also met with officials in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Last month Clinton addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in Las Vegas where she accused the entire GOP field of seeking to relegate immigrants to “second-class status.”