Bernie Sanders Hires Illegal Immigrant as 2020 Campaign Spokesperson
Sanders’ newest deputy national press secretary will be ineligible to vote for him
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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has hired an anti-Trump illegal immigrant as the spokesperson for his 2020 presidential election campaign.
Belén Sisa, a non-citizen, millennial left-wing activist, joined Bernie Sanders’ 2020 team as his deputy national press secretary this week, yet she won’t be eligible to cast a vote for her boss in the election.
Sisa, who currently resides in Arizona but describes herself as an illegal immigrant, says she hopes she can fight "anti-immigrant attacks and policies" by joining socialist Sanders' campaign.
“This is really emotional for me. I can’t help but think of 18-year-old Belén, who felt hopeless and powerless to the anti-immigrant attacks and policies that were holding her back from her dreams,” Sisa wrote as she announced her new job on Facebook, recalling her younger self.
“I can’t help but think of the generations of sacrifice my family has had to do for me to get here,” she added.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we think I’d be making moves like these."
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According to Fox News, the activist, who previously went viral in 2017 after posting a photo of herself paying taxes in an effort to change people’s perceptions about illegal immigrants, repeatedly said she was brought into the country illegally by her parents from Argentina when she was merely 6 years old.
She told multiple outlets that her stay in the U.S. is protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, introduced by the Obama administration.
In January, she appeared on CNN, where she was described as an undocumented “Dreamer” and spoke out about her immigration status being debated during the government shutdown.
“If [President Trump] truly cared about Dreamers, if he truly cared about undocumented youth, he would not be using us as bargaining chips through his tantrum of getting a wall that makes no sense,” she said.
“It’s horrible. It’s really disappointing and saddening to see that the person who is supposed to hold this country together is doing nothing but dividing the American people by holding immigrant youth hostage.”
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Sisa has been involved in politics since a young age and even worked as a page to the Arizona delegation at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the Arizona Republic reported.
She told the newspaper in 2016 that while she initially supported Sanders’ campaign that year, she urged her family members, who have a right to vote, to back Hillary Clinton.
“Even though I can’t vote, I can get 200 people to vote, and that matters,” Sisa said.
“Everything can change depending on who becomes the next president.
"Our voice is starting to matter, and we can have an impact even though we can’t cast a ballot ourselves.”
Sisa has also had troubles with the law, according to the Washington Examiner. She has reportedly been arrested multiple times for her activism, including for a sit-in outside the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“She's so brave,” Isabel O'Neal, Sisa's mother, said about her daughter’s activism to a local publication.
“DACA is expiring every day. Hers is going to expire in one year and what are we going to do with all of these youth?
"Congress has to pass the Dream Act.”
