Clinton and Sanders to Debate in Flint, Michigan

Last January, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared the city to be in a state of emergency.

Clinton, who stepped away from the campaign trail in New Hampshire to visit Flint, called on Congress to pass a $200 million bill to replace the city’s water infrastructure.

“This has to be a national priority”, Clinton said at the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church.

The silent story of what’s happening to Flint’s undocumented population is what happens when draconian immigration policies butt up against an environmental disaster: the most vulnerable people lose. One such study, conducted by the Hurley Medical Center, found the proportion of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels rose from 2.4 percent to 4.9 percent, and in some hotspots it rose from 4 percent to 10 percent.

After noting that lead-based abortion pills were used in 19th century England, she said Flint residents likely have suffered miscarriages from lead exposure as well.

The internationally televised event on March 6 will take place two days before the MI and MS primaries and is part of a broader deal reached by Clinton and Sanders to add more DNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates to the schedule.

Snyder’s comments came a day after liberal group Progress Michigan released emails showing high-ranking state officials knew about an increase in Legionnaires’ disease in Genesee County, where Flint is located, and a possible link to the contaminated water nearly a year before the governor said he got information about the outbreak. The banner attached to the plane will read, “SNYDER POISONED KIDS IN FLINT”.

Clinton told the congregation about her meeting with several young mothers whose children are suffering from lead poisoning. “But I think states also feel we collectively as a drinking water community, as a country, need to improve on the existing regulation”.

Flint, Michigan’s water crises started in April 2014.

The public drinking water in Sebring, Ohio contains high levels of lead and much like Flint – it took months for officials to tell anyone about it.

Pastor Kenneth Stewart who preached to the audience before Clinton arrived, was speechless after Clinton’s remarks, openly crying from the pulpit after her remarks.

Rep. Dan Kildee, Rep. Sandy Levin, Rep. Brenda Lawrence, Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas and Rep. Marcy Kaptur from OH were apart of the congressional delegation. The state said last month that immigrants living illegally in the US are no longer being denied water because they can’t show ID.

The U.S. Census Bureau says that Flint is 57% black, 37% white, 4% Hispanic and 4% of mixed race. “It’s like I’m just stuck here in this mess”.