Immigration reform advocate endorses Cortez Masto for US Senate

Las Vegas immigration reform advocate and DREAMer Astrid Silva has endorsed Catherine Cortez Masto in the U.S. Senate race.

The endorsement gives Cortez Masto an ally who has been on the national stage. Silva spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general, is running on the Democratic ticket against U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., for the open seat of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

“In Nevada, the choice is clear. As our senator, Catherine Cortez Masto will stand with immigrants and push for a permanent solution to our country’s broken immigration system,” Silva said in a statement. “She supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with deep roots in this country.”

After the convention, Silva garnered headlines when Donald Trump Jr., the son of the GOP presidential nominee, was asked by a KSNV-TV, Channel 3 reporter whether Silva should be concerned that his father might deport her. Trump Jr. called it a “possibility.”

At age 4, Silva climbed into a raft and crossed the border, entering the United States with her mother. Silva received a work permit through President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program, aka DACA.

In 2014, in a speech at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Obama highlighted Silva as an example of someone who can benefit from reforms. At the time, the president signed executive orders for immigration reform aimed at keeping families together.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.