Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made stops in San Diego on Thursday as he continues to promote his statewide campaign for Governor of California.

Villaraigosa was the guest speaker at the monthly Mexican-American Business and Professionals Association (MAPBA) luncheon held at the Centro Cultural in Balboa Park. The monthly meetings feature guest speakers that have included political, business, and civic leaders speaking on a range of important topics.

The crowd of over 120 guests included Congressman Scott Peters, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, and San Diego Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos, as well as local business and community leaders eager to hear more from one of the leading candidates in next year’s gubernatorial race.

“The next leader of this state is going to have to stand up and try unite us around the proposition that we want bridges, not walls,” Villaraigosa said. “We want to welcome the newcomers. We want to invest in them,” he said, speaking about the plight of new immigrants in California.

Villaraigosa previously served in the California State Assembly, having been the Speaker of the Assembly for 3 years. He was later elected to the Los Angeles City Council, then as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles, where he successfully led a reform of local schools, as well as having championed making LA the most “green” city in America.

“I’m running because I know how important it is in these times that we stand up,” Villaraigosa added. “We cannot allow this government to do what they’re trying to do to the DREAMers,” he said, referring to young undocumented immigrants registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

DACA is the Obama-era program that allowed for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as minors to register for protection from deportation if they continued in school or served in the military and did not have criminal records.

The Trump Administration recently announced a plan to end DACA within six months if Congress does not pass immigration reform to deal with those registered through DACA.

“I’m coming here, not just to ask you to vote,” he said. “If we want to restore the luster to the California dream, we have to lift more people up out of poverty; we have to educate more of our kids,” Villaraigosa added.

The campaign for Governor also includes two other well-known candidates; Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, the former Mayor of San Francisco; and State Treasurer John Chiang, who previously served as California State Controller.

The Primary Election for Governor will be June 5, 2018. The top two candidates will go on to the General Election on November 6, 2018.