Highlights of Senator Boxer's Record on Latino Issues

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More than one in three Californians are Latino. Experts predict that by 2020, Latinos will be the largest ethnic group in the state. Throughout her career in public service, Senator Boxer has been a vocal advocate for policies to help give Latinos a fair opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

• Ensuring Fair Immigration Policies: Senator Boxer is a first generation immigrant on her mother's side. She recognizes the important role immigrants have played in America's history and the important role they play today, in enriching our culture and in strengthening our economy.
  • Senator Boxer supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes both a path to citizenship and tougher border security. During consideration of comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate in 2007, Senator Boxer worked with a coalition of Latino groups — including Southwest Voter, MALDEF, and LULAC — to author amendments to create a fair process for undocumented workers to obtain legal status.
  • Senator Boxer has long opposed the creation of a guestworker program, which is designed to create a permanent pool of low-paid workers and may actually have the effect of increasing illegal immigration.
  • Senator Boxer believes one of the principal tenets of immigration policy should be to keep immigrants and their families together. That is why she has strongly supported the Section 245(i) program, which allows those in the United States who have been approved for legal permanent residency to get their green cards here rather than having to return to their native country.
  • Senator Boxer coauthored legislation to expedite the naturalization process for members of the Armed Forces who are legal permanent residents. A similar proposal became law in 2003.
  • Senator Boxer was a cosponsor of the Ag Jobs bill, which provides a path for illegal immigrants who have been working in the agricultural sector in the United States to become permanent legal residents.
     
• Increasing Educational Opportunities: In American society, education is the great equalizer, but that is only true if everyone has the opportunity for a high-quality education.
  • Senator Boxer cosponsored the DREAM Act, which would give states the ability to determine residency requirements for in-state tuition and admissions for public colleges and universities.
  • She has supported increasing the maximum Pell Grant — the program that provides college assistance to low-income students — and she introduced legislation to ensure that students are not penalized with a reduction in their Pell Grants because they attend low-cost colleges, including community colleges.
  • Senator Boxer supported legislation to expand the Hispanic-Serving Institutions program to include assistance for graduate fellowships and graduate student support services.
  • In the digital age, we risk leaving millions of students behind who cannot afford and do not have access to a computer and a high-speed Internet connection. Senator Boxer wrote the law to provide companies with an enhanced tax deduction for donating new and nearly-new computers to schools, and she supported the economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year, which includes nearly $75 million for California to purchase up-to-date computers and software for schools. In addition, Senator Boxer has been a leader in promoting expansion of broadband services, authoring bipartisan legislation to make it easier for companies to provide consumers with access to high-speed Internet connections.
  • Senator Boxer authored a provision of the Higher Education Act in 2008 to increase funding for Upward Bound, a program for at-risk and disadvantaged high school students to help prepare them for college.
  • Senator Boxer is the leading Senate advocate and champion for after school programs to give children a safe and enriching place to go at the end of the school day. She wrote the law that authorizes federal funding for after school programs — the first such law of its kind and she continues to fight to see that the program is fully funded.
     
• Providing Quality, Affordable Health Care: Large percentages of Latino adults and children lack health insurance. The result has been not only a lack of access to high quality health care services, but also disparities in the health and life expectancy of minorities.
  • Senator Boxer has supported legislation to improve access to health care services for racial and ethnic minorities, including the Hispanic Health Improvement Act — a comprehensive bill designed to improve access to health care for poor Latinos, especially those in underserved areas.
  • Senator Boxer has supported efforts to allow states to cover legal immigrant children and pregnant women under Medicaid and in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
  • After working with Latino community leaders in California, Senator Boxer introduced the HOPE Youth Pregnancy Prevention Act, which is aimed at preventing teen pregnancy among at-risk and minority youth.
     
• Protecting Civil Rights: Unfortunately, far too often, Latinos face barriers to equal opportunity. Senator Boxer is dedicated to breaking down those barriers and fighting discrimination.
  • She has supported the Hate Crimes Prevention Act — to expand and enhance enforcement of the federal hate crimes law — as well as legislation to assist local law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.
  • Senator Boxer cosponsored and strongly supported the Civil Rights Act of 2008, to strengthen the nation's civil rights statutes by, among other things, making it easier to show that an employer's policies have had a discriminatory impact on minorities.
  • Senator Boxer fought for passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure that victims of wage discrimination can seek justice. The act was the first signed into law by President Obama on January 21, 2009.
     
• Reducing the Costs of Remittances: Senator Boxer authored a bill to reduce the high cost of sending money to family members living outside the United States. To offer a cheaper alternative to expensive wire transfer services, the legislation allowed credit unions to offer money transfer services to anyone — not just credit union members. The bill also required that all financial institutions disclose the fees they charge for the service and the exchange rate used.
• Creating a National Latino Museum: In 2004, Senator Boxer coauthored legislation to create a national commission to study and plan for a National Museum of the American Latino. It became law in 2008.
• Fighting for Environmental Justice: As Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Boxer is fighting for an expanded Superfund program — to clean up toxic waste sites around the country, many of which are located in Latino-majority neighborhoods. In addition, she supports reinstating the requirement that polluters — not taxpayers — pay for the cleanup of toxic Superfund sites.