Salud Carbajal was 5-years-old when he came to the United States from Mexico.
By 26 he’d married the love of his life, a woman he met while attending University California Santa Barbara, was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and starting a 12-year stint as chief of staff for a Santa Barbara County Supervisor.
That start to a life in politics was an bare bones explanation to start a dialogue with a group of Nipomo High School students with whom the freshman U.S. Congressman spent half a day giving talks and answering questions with a stop for lunch on Oct. 9.
Topics included his views on most major issues making headlines in the week before his visit, an agenda dictated by the students’ questions. Policy regarding minimum wage, tax reform, DACA re-the Trump administration, nuclear disarmament, climate change and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) were addressed.
While the crowd of mostly 15-17-year-olds assembled for an after lunch talk in the auditorium could be considered quite sharp and astute in their lines of questioning, the politician was still able to shift the conversation to subjects they hadn’t considered.
The ERA for instance, came up after a discussion of the Congressman’s top priorities, which included action on climate change and civil rights.
The Congressman said he supported the movement to ensure women equal rights under the law, which, he said, they currently do not have enshrined in the Constitution, adding “can you believe that in this country?”
The proposed amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. It’s been stalled ever since.
He brought up the ERA whilst noting that, “[racial and ethnic] minorities and the LGBT community face housing and other discrimination nationwide.”
Addressing his own roots as an immigrant, the children of immigrants, and an Hispanic, Rep. Carbajal said he and his family were, “lucky to get here when the system worked,” adding that every president since Jimmy Carter has tried some method of immigration reform, but that the “system has been broken since 1970.”
He visited the school during a moment that a deal between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration seemed imminent regarding permanent legalization of the DACA program, previously an program under an Obama administration executive order.
“I’m in favor of formal legislation such as the DREAM Act,” he said. “There are several ideas floating in Congress that are less comprehensive.”
He also encouraged immigrants not in the country under any program to apply first for permanent residency, then for citizenship.
Nipomo High Senior Rozella Apel said she’d been, “jumping up and down excited,” the night before to be part of the event, going as far as to draft a page of questions just in case.
Reception to the Congressman’s presence was overall positive, with fellow senior Camille Lopez noting she appreciated his treating his audience as thinking human beings and not patronizing them.
A father himself twice over, Rep. Carbajal said he found the interaction with youth inspiring.
Story and Photos by Camas Frank
