Julian Castro backs off comments about slavery and illegal immigrants

Oye, senor, time to ‘splain yourself

Mayor Julian Castro Explains Comments Comparing Illegal Immigrants To Slavery

Via NYDailyNews

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro hinted during a MSNBC interview that the status of illegal residents unable to secure citizenship in the U.S. is comparable to slavery.

“It would be unprecedented in American history for us to create a permanent class of folks who are not citizens, outside of slavery,” the Democratic politician said Thursday on “NOW with Alex Wagner.”

“We certainly learned our lesson from that,” he added.

Castro appeared on the cable news show with his twin brother Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) via satellite from Capitol Hill. The brothers said Democrats are pushing for immigration reform that would extend legal residence or citizenship to the estimated 11 million illegal residents living in the U.S.

The San Antonio mayor later backtracked, clarifying that he was not “comparing the two [slavery and illegal residency] in any other sense except to say that we want — we want, in the United States, for folks to be fully invested in our nation.”

Castro’s office didn’t respond to a request for clarification on the comment.

The general rule of thumb is pretty simple, STOP COMPARING THINGS TO SLAVERY!