- What experience will you bring that has prepared you to be a strong Member of Congress?
I am the best candidate to serve this seat because I am already doing the work this moment demands. I did not plan to run for Congress; I ran because as a Palestinian journalist covering the far right, and horrified member of our community, I warned leaders about the threat we faced and they refused to listen. I am a renter, a formerly uninsured worker, and a union representative who knows what bad policy costs real people.
- Do you have a connection to the Asian American community in the 9th District? If so, can you share about that connection?
Real representation means including everyone, and the AAPI community here in the 9th District is no different. I have been immensely privileged to engage with my Asian American voters, and have learned in-depth about the issues they care most about, and what is needed to make their lives better. I was proud to join my fellow candidates recently at an incredibly engaging forum hosted by PACE, and I am working closely with the SE Asian and Bangladeshi community on real policy solutions.
- What is your number one priority if elected?
My number one priority is dismantling the fascist police state Trump has wrought. I will block ICE and CBP’s efforts with every power of my office, and I will push for the complete disestablishment of ICE and DHS. I will do everything in my power to delay this administration in every moment of its cruelty.
- If elected, how will you address the rising costs of groceries, utility bills, housing and other essential needs?
I’ll fight to expand assistance programs like SNAP and TANF, criminalize corporate price gouging, close tax loopholes and implement higher taxes for the wealthy, and use my authority to check the CEOs robbing us blind. We need to make sure that our policies are rooted in supporting the increasingly shrinking working class. As the need for new energy generation grows, it’s important that corporations are not passing costs down to the ratepayers and we have to regulate dynamic pricing in grocery stores that allows for rapid price gouging.
- What will you do to ensure every person has access to quality and affordable healthcare?
Healthcare is a human right. We spend more on the military than the next nine countries on the list combined – we have the money. I believe in all-inclusive, universal healthcare that provides support for all families and I will oppose cuts to Medicaid, especially those that reduce federal funding below 90% – that will mean that over 800,000 IL residents lose healthcare instantly.
- Do you support a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants? If yes, what will you do to make the pathway a reality?
Yes, I will work with my fellow progressives on a real fix to our broken immigration system, one that codifies the right to seek asylum, and greatly streamlines the process. I do not support deporting anyone, unless they have been convicted of violent crimes.
- How would you increase language access to federal offices such as unemployment and social security, particularly for Asian American immigrants?
I believe that everyone deserves to access government services in the language they speak. NYC’s city government is a model for me in this issue, and I think that legislatively, it is entirely achievable.
- How would you address the issues of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Do you support abolishing ICE?
This is a “break glass in case of emergency moment” for our nation; we must go beyond abolition, we must prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. ICE and CBP are executing people in the streets, Americans and undocumented neighbors alike. I will fight to disestablish both ICE and DHS, and I will draft legislation disbanding the Department of Homeland Security and remanding the most essential national security functions it was meant to perform to the Justice Department, Defense Department, and the Treasury.
- Gun control has been an intractable issue in Congress. What would you do to move the issue forward?
Our children and communities deserve to exist without fear of gun violence. As a member of the “school shooting generation,” I know too well the anxieties caused by active shooter drills, lockdowns, and the very real threat of gun violence in the classroom. That’s why we must implement a federal assault weapons ban modeled after Illinois’ assault weapons ban, enact comprehensive universal background checks, require waiting periods, institute mandatory gun safety training, close gun show and ghost gun loopholes, and prioritize victims of gun violence above all else.