Bernie Sanders hires Arizona immigration activist onto presidential campaign

PHOENIX — In his latest move to reach out to minorities and immigrants across the country, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently hired a well-known Arizona immigration activist onto his campaign.

Erika Andiola of the Arizona Dream Action Coalition will be joining Sanders’s presidential campaign, according to Buzzfeed News. Andiola and her boyfriend Caesar Vargas, a well-known DREAMer activist, are two of the latest immigration activists hired onto the campaign.

The pair will focus on Latino outreach in the southwest states, including Nevada and its early caucus, according to the article.

Andiola is one of the most respected and well-known immigrant activists in the country and has been contacted by several other Democratic presidential nominees, including Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley.

Immigration activist Gaby Pacheco said Andiola’s past experiences with immigration and deportation have inspired her to fight against the deportation of families.

“She is definitely one of the most well-known DREAMers and she has a huge community following in the undocumented and immigrant rights community,” she said in an interview with Buzzfeed News.

Andiola’s mother was taken in a 2013 nighttime raid to be deported, but Andiola helped stop the deportation process even though her mother was already headed toward the border.

“It’s just a testament to the power of the individual, even if they’re not able to vote, to have a voice,” Pacheco said in an interview with Buzzfeed News.

Although Sanders has shown a dedication to immigration reform, the article argued that his name is not as recognizable as Clinton’s with Hispanic voters. Andiola and other immigration activists on Sanders’s campaign will focus on spreading his message in Nevada, an early primary state.

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