Julián Castro

Castro in October 2019 unveiled a “Unions for All” plan that aims to more than double union membership. It would require large, publicly traded corporations to reserve at least one-third of board seats for workers, who would be elected by employees who are not managers. His plan would prohibit anti-competitive labor practices, including noncompete agreements “that limit worker freedom and mobility.” He would end “employee misclassification,” according to the plan, which affects short-term contract workers and “gig economy” workers. A parallel “Dignity for Domestic Workers” plan includes a push for passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act, which would strengthen overtime protections, end exclusion from anti-harassment and anti-discrimination laws, and include health and safety protections. The plan would establish portable benefits, including paid family leave, medical leave and health care. It would protect workers who report crimes or labor violations from retaliation from legal authorities or employers. Castro supports raising the top marginal tax rate, though he hasn’t specified a number, and has called for undoing Trump’s 2017 tax package. He has said that he believes it “makes sense to renegotiate agreements like” the North American Free Trade Agreement, the deal with Canada and Mexico, but that he disagreed with “folks who think that we should completely scrap our trade agreements.” He’s also said he did not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-nation deal negotiated under Obama that Trump withdrew from in one of his first acts as President, as it was originally negotiated. More on Castro’s economic policy

Castro’s plan calls for universal prekindergarten, an issue that was central to his time as mayor of San Antonio. The plan also calls for: federal investment to combat teacher attrition, shortages and underpayment; student loan debt revisions; and free tuition for public colleges and universities and for technical and vocational education. Castro has proposed investing $150 billion in upgrading high school facilities, creating programs so students have the chance to earn college credit in high school at no additional cost and increasing the prevalence of trade programs in high school. More on Castro’s education policy

Castro has been a longtime gun control advocate and currently supports three key policies: renewing the ban on so-called assault weapons, curbing the use of high-capacity magazines and instituting universal background checks. Castro, as part of his education plan, has supported the creation of so-called “red flag” laws, which allow families and police to petition a judge to temporarily block someone’s access to firearms if there is credible concern they might hurt themselves or others. Castro, when speaking about the issue, often leans on the fact he is from Texas, a state that embraces gun culture and hunting. But he’s argued that it is possible to “have common sense gun reform and still have the Second Amendment in place.”

Castro supports the single-payer “Medicare for All” proposal, which would create a national government-backed health care plan and essentially eliminate the private insurance industry, and has suggested paying for it by raising the top marginal income tax rate. He has said, however, that while people should “have the ability to enroll in Medicare,” they should also be allowed to have private plans or supplemental insurance. Castro did not raise his hand during the first Democratic debate when asked if he supports abolishing private insurance. “I believe that Medicare should be available to all who want it, but if you want to have a supplemental private health insurance plan that is strong, then I think you should be allowed to do that,” he told CNN in June 2019.

In April 201, Castro released his People First Immigration plan, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for so-called Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as minors – as well as other undocumented immigrants who “live, work and raise families in communities throughout the United States” and immigrants who are in the country under temporary protected status. The plan also aims to expand the number of asylum seekers admitted to the United States, strengthen the family migration system and decriminalize crossing illegally into the United States. His plan would reorganize Immigration and Customs Enforcement by “splitting the agency in half and re-assigning enforcement functions” within it. He has not called for abolishing the agency but does want an investigation into its role, along with those of Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department, in the Trump administration’s policies that led to family separations at the border. Castro succinctly laid out his stance on immigration during the first Democratic debate, saying he would do away with the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including the ones that limit the number of asylum seekers at ports of entry and force them to wait in Mexico for the adjudication of their cases. More on Castro’s immigration policy