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<figure id="attachment_43222" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-43222" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_5063-e15097… loading="lazy" class="wp-image-43222 size-medium" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_5063-e15097…; alt="" width="300" height="245" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_506… 300w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_506… 1024w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_506… 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-43222" class="wp-caption-text">Antonio Villaraigosa</figcaption></figure>
<p>The recently-released campaign video of former Los Angeles Mayor and candidate for Governor of California Antonio Villaraigosa draws a sharp contrast to the rhetoric directed at Latino communities by President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Villaraigosa, who traveled this week to San Diego to speak at the 2017 California Economic Summit and to be presented an award by the nonprofit organization Border Angels, sat with La Prensa San Diego to explain the motivation behind his campaign video.</p>
<p>“What I tried to convey with that video was to share my life story as emblematic of many life stories,” Villaraigosa said.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the <a href="https://antonioforcalifornia.com/life-stories/">video</a>, Villaraigosa accompanies Border Angels during a water drop where volunteers leave water gallons in high traffic migrant crossing areas.</p>
<p>He said this was done not only in an effort to show that those migrants are human beings but also to contrast Donald Trump’s call for building a wall and the deportation of 11 million people.</p>
<p>The candidate left water gallons and signed them with, “Go with the grace of God. Yes we can!”</p>
<p>“I wanted to share the story of people who come and cross the border for a better life, in search of that American dream, to reunite with their families, to contribute to our economy and our society,” Villaraigosa said.</p>
<p>He continues by sharing his own story of growing up in a home with domestic violence and his struggle to succeed in school.</p>
<p>“I wanted to use my life story as a shared story of so many of us and the importance of giving back, investing in people so they have a second shot,” Villaraigosa said.</p>
<p>Villaraigosa said he will focus on growing the economy by educating and training more kids, improving the business climate, working on the topic of affordable housing, protecting and improving healthcare in California, building infrastructure, and protecting climate change standards, among a few.</p>
<p>“I think it is important that California mark a different path,” he said. “I believe that the next governor is going to have to restore the luster to the california dream by ensurign that we grow together and education and investment in human capital is a key to that.”</p>
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