By Katie Porter
Ever wonder why donuts in Southern California always come in pink boxes? The answer, as with so many American success stories, is because of immigrants.
In the 1980s, Cambodians who came here as refugees began training and supporting each other to open donut shops all over Southern California. They chose pink boxes because they were a few cents cheaper, which makes a big difference when you’re selling thousands of doughnuts a day. With that business savvy and a lot of hard work, these immigrants built an industry so successful that today those pink boxes are a beloved sight to us all.
Southern California has an immigrant community like nowhere else in the world. Residents of Orange County, where California’s 45th Congressional district is located, speak more than 108 different languages. People move here for work, for school, for family, and for a chance at a better life.
Opportunity, above all else, draws people to California. But since the 2016 election, we’ve been challenged by an administration in Washington, D.C. that is trying to take those opportunities away.
I’m running for Congress to make sure that doesn’t happen. In talking with people during the past 20 months of my campaign, I’ve heard disappointment and real fear about Donald Trump’s policies—and frustration that our Congressional representative Mimi Walters votes 99 percent of the time with him.
These policies—on immigration, taxation, education, healthcare, and so much more—don’t represent Orange County values. They don’t reward hard work—they penalize it, by taking money from the pockets of hard-working, middle class families who own a home or send their kids to college. Even worse, it feels like Trump and Mimi’s policies are designed to hurt Californians for things we’re proud of: the languages we speak, the way we look, and where we or our families were born. These policies are anti-immigrant and therefore, by definition, un-American.
Why would our elected leaders work against Americans? The answer is to reward big corporate donors and special interests. The ultra-wealthy and multinational corporations get a $1.5 trillion tax giveaway. What do Orange County families get? Higher taxes on our homes and businesses, threats to Medicare and Social Security, and $1.9 trillion added to our nation’s deficit.
Mimi Walters even tried to take away tax breaks for graduate students, and for public school teachers who buy supplies for their own classrooms. Tax relief for medical expenses, help with high-cost student loans, aid to those hurt by wildfires, rebates for electric vehicles—Mimi voted to get rid of it all.
Our schools are America’s engines of opportunity. We must support and improve our public school and universities. We must make sure everyone who is able to attend college has a space in our classrooms. We should prioritize policies that allow small businesses in Orange County to keep innovating and growing. We must help those who arrive in this country to start small businesses because their efforts create jobs.
This election is also critical for our nation’s investments in healthcare. Without a new Democratic majority to keep him in check, Congress will push forward with Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, deny insurance to seniors and people with pre-existing medical conditions, and gut Medicare and Medi-Cal.
Even with the Affordable Care Act, healthcare costs in America are rising. Big insurance and pharmaceutical companies purposely make our current system too complicated to force us to pay them more for our care. I had to have emergency surgery this summer, and I’m currently fighting my insurance company because they said I should have asked—while sedated and on the operating table—whether my surgeon was in-network with my insurance plan. So I’m fighting for Medicare for All, so that everyone has quality healthcare they can afford.
In Congress, I want to be a representative for everyone in this district and to recognize the diversity that makes us great. California leads the world in technology, healthcare, education, and agriculture. Without immigrants, California’s excellence in these industries would be impossible. I’m committed to fighting for policies that foster innovation and keep families together, including comprehensive immigration reform and protections for DREAMers.
I live in Irvine, I work at the University of California, and I send my kids to our public schools. I love this community and Orange County. I know who my neighbors are and I’m glad they’re here, including those who immigrated from around the world. I want to be the one to fight for them, and for all of us, in Washington. That pink box of doughnuts sitting in my campaign office right now—I know why it’s there, too, and I’ll never forget the immigrants who started it all.
Katie Porter is a UC Irvine law professor, mother of three, and consumer protection attorney. She is a candidate for the 45th Congressional District.
