Visionarios 2024: Villaraigosa stresses need for pathway to citizenship

LOS ANGELES – California gubernatorial candidate and former mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa said he understands President Biden's executive order to tighten asylum limits but argued that immigrants who are already here need a clear pathway to citizenship.

Why it matters: The Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing populations in America and immigration is a top issue in the presidential race.

• Villaraigosa, who announced his candidacy for the 2026 gubernatorial race, provided his views on immigration on September 5 at the annual Visionarios event, hosted by Axios and Noticias Telemundo.

With an average of 2,500 migrants crossing the border illegally each day, the White House executive order allows border officials to turn away migrants without allowing them to seek asylum.

What he's saying: "There's no question that some of them are political refugees, many of them are not. To have a process for them to come is absolutely reasonable in my mind…but you can't do that without also providing a pathway to citizenship," Villaraigosa said.

• "You look at our economy today, it's immigrants…they're providing the wealth of this country. Latinos and Latinas are starting more businesses per capita than any other group and many of them are immigrants."
• "I'm for immigrants, I'm for the American dream…I'm also for making sure that we're living in an environment where we can sell the notion of providing a pathway of citizenship for these people. You can't do that with all the noise you have right now."

In a separate interview, actress/producer Kate del Castillo said the shift in appreciation for Spanish-language programming within the film/TV industry has shown "a little change in the right direction" but more needs to be done.

• "I just think that Hispanics in the cinematic industry…we're still invisible. It's so, so depressing in that sense."
• "Yes, it has changed, but very slow…we need more, much more."

2024 Team USA Olympic boxer Jennifer 'La Traviesa' Lozano reminisced about the early days of her career, how her grandmother was a pivotal figure for her, and she addressed future plans of going pro.

• Lozano said going pro isn't in the cards just yet, but she's said it could happen "soon."
• "I'm gonna be making a lot of history once I do," said Lozano.

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In a View From the Top conversation, Bank of America's President of Business Banking Raul Anaya discussed a recently released, and first-ever, Latina GDP study. Its findings show that the Latina GDP is $1.3 trillion.

• "It's a powerful statement of what here in Los Angeles we know is important- the Latino segment, and specifically in the Latina community, in terms of their entrepreneurship, how they start businesses, how they spend."
• "Just like the Latino community that continues to grow at out-size levels compared to the non-Latino community...The facts show that the Latina GDP, the Latina community, if taken as a cohort, is growing 2.7 times faster than the non-Latino community."