Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Bernie Sanders courts Hispanic voters during stop in Las Vegas

1109BernieSanders

John Locher/Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., second from left, speaks at the Fair Immigration Reform Movement presidential candidate forum, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, in Las Vegas. Sanders took questions on issues, including immigration reform and jobs, from participants on stage.

Bernie Sanders Holds Rally in NLV

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane arrive for a rally at the Cheyenne Sports Complex, in North Las Vegas Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. Launch slideshow »

After rallying 2,800 people Sunday in North Las Vegas, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders continued his barnstorming tour in Las Vegas, unrolling an immigration reform plan he vowed to fight for during his first 100 days in office.

Sanders, a Vermont Senator running against Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination, continued to hammer his campaign message of reforming immigration policy and upending wage inequality.

The middle class needs the help of the immigrant community to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, he said while speaking at a panel hosted by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement at the Linq hotel.

“When we give legal rights to undocumented workers, what we are doing is standing up for every other worker in America in our effort to rebuild the middle class,” he said.

Sanders’ Nevada trip is part of an effort to make inroads with the Hispanic community — a voting bloc his campaign has targeted as a must-win.

Sanders and Clinton both have called for amnesty for the nation’s 11 million undocumented workers and taking measures beyond President Barack Obama’s executive actions being challenged by GOP groups in federal court.

Sanders’ message has landed him a large following nationwide. Refusing money from Super PACs, Sanders has raised more than $60 million from small donors and drawn more than 300,000 people to events nationwide.

“This campaign is about what works for working families, not just billionaires,” he said. “The only way we do that is when we come together in a movement that says the government should work for all of us.”

At today’s event, Sanders repeated a jab he’s thrown at GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

Trump, who made disparaging comments about Mexican immigrants in July, appeals to racism and xenophobia, Sanders said.

“We have come too far as a nation to overcome racism to have presidential candidates to talk about people from Mexico as rapists and drug dealers,” Sanders said. “That’s not acceptable. We will fight that tooth and nail.”

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