Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Sunday stood firm on wanting to give undocumented immigrants access to health care if he is elected.
After the first Democratic debate Wednesday night, the former HUD secretary, along with other candidates, drew some criticism for saying they want to give undocumented immigrants access to health care.
One of the critics was President Donald Trump, who tweeted: “All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!”
Castro amplified his position Sunday.
“What I'd like to Americans to know, right now, No. 1, undocumented immigrants already pay a lot of taxes,” Castro told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “Secondly, we already pay for the health care of undocumented immigrants. It's called the emergency room.
“And then third, it's the right thing to do,” he said. “We're not going to let people living in this country die because they can't see a doctor. That's not who we are as Americans.”
Castro also re-upped his immigration policy idea that he calls a “21st century Marshall Plan.” His plan is centered around giving financial aid to Central American countries embroiled in poverty to help stop the flow of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. His reference to the Marshall Plan refers back to the 1940s policy named for Gen. George Marshall, President Harry Truman’s secretary of State, who sought to rebuild Europe after World War II.
“Nobody has called for an unlimited number of people coming to this country, but I do believe we should expand that significantly and we're big enough to do that,” Castro said.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine