Presidential candidate Julián Castro visits Santa Clara

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- Democratic presidential candidate, Julián Castro, made a campaign stop at Santa Clara University Friday afternoon as part of a town hall series presented by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and KQED.

"What I love most about him is that he leads with compassion and more importantly, family values, that I hold near and dear to my heart," said Isaac Nieblas of Santa Clara.

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Touting executive experience as the former mayor of San Antonio, Castro made his case to hundreds of prospective voters in attendance as to why he is the best candidate to take on President Trump in 2020.

"I represent a new generation of leadership with a bold, ambitious plan for our United States to be the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation on earth," Castro said.

The former Housing and Urban Development Secretary touched on his immigration plan at Friday's town hall, which calls for the elimination of 287(G), the federal program that allows local law enforcement to perform immigration duties after undergoing training.

"I think that you need to use the resources of your local police force to focus on solving crime... responding and solving serious crime," Castro said.

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Earlier in the week, Castro unveiled his "People First Education" plan, which would include the creation of a federally-funded pre-kindergarten program and the elimination of tuition at public universities and community colleges.

"We think it's so important that people who would like to lead our country, understand the innovation economy, and not just from the employer perspective, but the hard-working employees and families as well," said Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Castro is one of 24 declared candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I wish that we would have this kind of opportunity more often to be able to connect personally with more presidential candidates," said Jennifer Gonzalez from Morgan Hill.