Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro is scheduled to hold the first California rally of his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination Saturday at Garfield High School.
Castro will “share his vision for a more inclusive and prosperous nation, one where every American can live up to their potential,” according to the campaign.
Castro will also discuss his “People First” immigration policy, which calls for a “pathway to full and equal citizenship,” to those living in the U.S. without authorization, ending criminal penalties for entering the United States without legal permission and a “Marshall Plan” for Central America, focusing on stabilizing the nations that are the main sources of migration to the United States.
The Marshall Plan was the U.S. initiative to aid Western Europe following World War II.
“Decriminalizing illegal immigration would mean open season for human traffickers, drug smugglers and violent gangs like MS-13,” Steve Guest, the Republican National Committee deputy rapid response director wrote Tuesday, one day after Castro unveiled the policy in a post on the website Medium.com.
Castro began his political career in 2001 when he was elected to San Antonio City Council when he was 26 years old, the youngest person elected to that body. He served on the City Council until 2005, when he gave up the seat to make an unsuccessful run for mayor.
Castro was elected mayor of San Antonio 2009, serving until 2014, when he was appointed secretary of housing and urban development under then-President Barack Obama, remaining in the position for the rest of the Obama administration.
Castro received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford in 1996 in political science and communications and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2000.
If elected, Castro would be the nation’s first Latino president and first whose highest previous office was cabinet secretary since Herbert Hoover.