EL PASO, TEXAS — Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg delivered remarks today outlining El Paso Adelante, his plan to expand opportunity for the Latino community. El Paso Adelante, or the path forward, calls for significant investments in Latino communities in four ways: closing the college completion gap between whites and Latinos, doubling the number of Latino-owned businesses with employees, reducing chronic diseases among Latinos, as well as clearing the naturalization backlog and creating a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who contribute to our communities, economy, and country.

“We need to bring security to the 60 million Latinos who Donald Trump has vilified — and who help to make America truly great,” said Mike Bloomberg. “I don’t only mean physical security from attacks like the one we saw in El Paso. I mean the security of knowing your kids will have a quality education, knowing you will be able to afford health care, and knowing you will be safe from climate change. That’s the path forward we need to take — and that is what my plan will do. And together, we will get it done.”

Mike Bloomberg 2020 also announced the launch of Ganamos con Mike, meaning We Win with Mike, an initiative to engage Latinos across the country on the issues they care about and to rally support for Mike.

Despite Donald Trump’s dangerous rhetoric that stirs hatred against Latinos, the Latino community has a high rate of service in our nation’s military and $1.5 trillion of buying power.

In his remarks in El Paso, Mike also addressed the recent racially-motivated attack that took place at an El Paso Walmart in August 2019. As president, Mike will also make the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes a top priority by launching a coordinated effort led by the Department of Justice and FBI. He has been a longtime advocate for common sense gun safety policies that will curb violence, including universal background checks.

“When the President of the United States uses his bully pulpit to fuel fear and hatred, white supremacists hear his language as an invitation to commit violence – and even as a license to kill,” said Mike. “So it’s no surprise that hate crimes have risen over the course of his presidency, as the people of El Paso saw first-hand on August 3rd. Well, the hatred coming from President Trump — and parroted by the El Paso attacker — doesn’t define America. And in November, we will prove it.”

First, his plan will enable more Latinos to afford a quality college education without taking on debt to complete their degrees. It will also make public colleges and universities tuition free for low-income students, providing access to higher education to millions of Latinos. In addition, he will invest in Hispanic Serving Institutions, which in 2017, enrolled two-thirds of undergraduates from the Latino community. Mike’s plan will help close the gap between white and Latino graduation rates for four-year bachelor’s degrees.

El Paso Adelante will also narrow the income and wealth gaps between Latinos and whites through higher wages, higher levels of home ownership and business growth. Mike’s plan will double the number of Latino-owned businesses with employees in 10 years to more than 670,000. It will reform financial systems so that Latinos have greater access to credit and will reduce banking costs.

In addition, Mike’s plan takes a multi-prong approach to improve the health of Latinos, who have the highest uninsured rate among racial or ethnic groups and face high rates of chronic illnesses. His plan creates an affordable, quality public health insurance option and ends Donald Trump’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act. It also lowers prescription drug prices and out-of-pocket costs.
In addition to his dangerous rhetoric, Trump’s policies have contributed to the immigration court backlog of over 1 million cases. Further, he rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected 800,000 young people. He has caged Latino men, women and children seeking asylum from unsafe circumstances in their home countries. At least six children have died while in U.S. custody.

The fourth part of Mike’s plan will clear the naturalization backlog and create a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who contribute to our economy, culture, and communities. His plan will provide permanent protections for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, shielding them from deportation and putting them on a pathway to citizenship. Additionally, the plan will expand immigration legal services.

Mike has a long record of championing the Latino community. As Mayor of New York City, Mike signed executive orders guaranteeing immigrants rights to government services and medical care, as well as protecting victims of crime regardless of immigration status. Mike made significant education reforms for public schools and colleges that resulted in higher graduation rates for Latino students. He also launched initiatives to support immigrant-owned businesses.

In addition, he established NYCitizenship to help city government employees who were permanent residents apply for citizenship, and later expanded the initiative to families of NYC public schools students. He also expanded legal services to immigrants by adding a full-time attorney to the City’s Family Justice Centers to counsel domestic violence victims and secured a full-time immigration attorney from each of the City’s 10 indigent criminal defense providers.

Learn more about Mike’s plan, El Paso Adelante here. Learn more about Ganamos con Mike here.