Two high-ranking Democrats from California had sharp words Thursday in response to Donald Trump's immigration speech a day earlier.
University of California President Janet Napolitano and Sen. Barbara Boxer were at the UC Berkeley campus Thursday for an event honoring Boxer's career.
Boxer, who is retiring from public office after a 40-year career, said she has never seen a presidential nominee quite like Trump.
"You don’t call people rapist and criminals and say they are taking jobs away and then stand for 20 minutes next to the president of Mexico and have that erased," Boxer said.
She was referring to the Republican presidential nominee's Wednesday speech, during which he repeated his promise to build a wall on the border.
Napolitano, formerly the governor of Arizona, was equally critical, calling Trump's meeting in Mexico a lost opportunity.
"Show me a 10-foot wall, I’ll show you a 12-foot ladder," she said. "That’s just not the way you do immigration and immigration enforcement."
Local
Republican Assembly Chairman Leo Lacayo answered with a shot at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"The missed opportunity was Mrs. clinton, who refused to go either for health reasons or personal reasons," Lacayo said. "She doesn’t think Mexico's important enough."
Lacayo, a Latino activist, says Trump’s take-no-prisioners immigration speech is more proof he should be our next president.
"This speech is meant to put fear into the hearts and souls of criminals and to soothe those that may otherwise have fears of being deported," he said.
Boxer announced that she’ll be donating her congressional papers and memorabilia to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. She also said she intends to launch a lecture series at the library that will focus on women in leadership.
