LAS VEGAS (AP) – An activist who will deliver a Democratic response in Spanish to President Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress plans to address his administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and the need for affordable health care.
Tuesday’s remarks from Astrid Silva, a so-called Dreamer who was brought into the country illegally as a child, will come as Trump’s efforts have spread anxiety among immigrants and led many to fear arrest. Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear will give the Democratic Party’s English-language response.
“Immigration is obviously very important, but I think people assume immigration is the only issue that Latinos care about,” Silva told The Associated Press on Monday. “There are so many things affecting our lives, like health care, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights.”
Silva, 28, came to the U.S. with her parents at age 4 and has lived in Las Vegas since she was 5. She is part of a group of 750,000 immigrants who were brought into the U.S. without authorization as children but later received deportation relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program authorized by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
Silva has become a prominent advocate for immigration reform. She spoke during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July, almost two years after Obama highlighted her story during an address to the nation about a similar deportation relief program for the parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents.