Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attacked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump from the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, saying he had come to speak for the 11 million immigrants living in America illegally, and blasting Trump for saying he might deport them.
The potential 2018 California gubernatorial candidate said he came “tonight to speak for the 11 million often forgotten people.” He added, “Donald Trump proposes the greatest mass deportation in our nation’s or any nation’s history,” saying his immigration plan is patterned after President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Operation Wetback,” which led to the deportation of many Mexicans who were in the United States illegally.
Villaraigosa said one million Mexicans were deported under that plan, although there are numerous, conflicting, reports about the actual number of illegals who were expelled by the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). Many also left voluntarily, fearing apprehension by the government.
“These 11 million people don’t have credentials to this hall [sic]. They don’t even have a vote. But they must have a voice in our party and our nation,” he said. “And so in this city of brotherly love, we must stand up and fight for these 11 million. For we are our brother’s keeper.”
Villaraigosa added, “we have always been stronger when we integrate, not segregate” and that the country “will be stronger when we elect a woman who has fought for the ‘forgotten children,’ given voice to the unrepresented. A woman who’s like the good shepherd.”
He said Hillary Clinton “wants to bring all the flock in. Not just the white flock, but the black flock, the yellow flock, the brown flock, the Muslim flock, the Jewish flock. Every single one of us.”
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