Congressman Raúl Grijalva spoke primarily about immigration reform, education and the environment during his State of the District address Wednesday in front of nearly 200 people at the Tucson Convention Center.
Grijalva also said he hoped for a higher Latino turnout to the polls in the upcoming election.
The speech to members of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and others was informal, ending with him casually calling presidential candidate Bernie Sanders “Lazarus.”
“Every time you throw dirt at him, he rises up again,” said the Democrat, who has endorsed Sanders.
- On immigration reform
- What he said: While the political fixation is on border safety, at the end of the day nothing substantive is being done.
“We have a piece of legislation that talks about getting out of the security side,” Grijalva said. “We want to repeal the constitutional authority homeland security has to wave any law that they want within 100 miles of the border.”
Reaction: “I fully support his position. His heart is really in it,” said Rosalva Altamirano, who is retired and a native Tucsonan.
- On education
- What he said: “The government’s role is to nurture our schools,” Grijalva said. He said he supports community colleges, and pointed out that accessibility and availability are keys.
Grijalva said we need to “make sure people are accountable for the millions and millions and millions of dollars in student loans and the ruined lives they have left behind.”
He also said he’d like to see more cross-border educational opportunities. He said the people-to-people connection would be better for the educational system and communication between the two countries.
Reaction: “One thing I like is dreamers going to college and the continued support to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals),” said a supporter who declined to give her name because she is undocumented.
- On the environment
- What he said: The environment is one of his favorite things to work on.
“We work a lot to keep the worst from happening,” Grijalva said. Politicians need to pay more attention to public lands, he said.
“Public lands are for all of us. They are not for extraction only. They are for conservation. They’re for recreation, they’re for species protection and legacy.”
Reaction: “It was absolutely appropriate. We need to protect Mother Nature for future generations,” said Richard Saunders, a member of the Tohono O’dham Nation.
