Last weekend, Iowa was host to an immigration forum, which invited most presidential candidates. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton could not attend the Iowa forum, but Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, was able to stump for her campaign for several events.

During the Iowa campaign trial, Castro was able to distinguish Clinton's Latino outreach efforts, and it came with slight criticism towards fellow presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Speaking to Iowans at a Mexican restaurant on Aug. 30, Castro said Sanders has "hardly at all" engaged with the Latino voting bloc, which has been projected to hit a new peak of over 13 million voters for the 2016 presidential election.

"I want to say this in all frankness. I didn't come here to knock any of the candidates, but Sen. Sanders has not reached out to the Hispanic caucus in Congress, has not reached out to me. I've never met the gentleman," said Castro, noting the Vermont senator did not visit Texas or the Rio Grande Valley, an area where immigration is a pressing issue.

"That's a bit of a concern."

Sanders has campaigned in Texas. In July, Sanders held a rally that attracted thousands of spectators. Outside of Texas in June, Sanders attended and addressed the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference. At the NALEO event, Sanders reiterated his support of President Barack Obama's immigration deferred action programs, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), although he believes the programs should be further expanded. Clinton has also called for greater executive actions for the deferred action programs.

"This campaign's been going on for a while already, and I know [Sanders] been very busy and I respect that," Castro said. "I respect him a lot, but this community matters and especially in this moment, this moment when the community's getting kicked around, it concerns me that there hasn't been any outreach, hardly at all. And I'll just leave it at that."

Castro's "getting kicked around" comment refers to the ongoing rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates on the topic of immigration. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has called for the mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., the end of birthright citizenship, a wall between the U.S.-Mexico border, and use of the term "anchor baby." Other Republican candidates have followed Trump's message, or at least a piece of it, such as Jeb Bush saying "anchor baby" and Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz calling for the end of birthright citizenship.

"The assertion that Sen. Sanders has not spoken out about Trump or on Latino issues is incorrect," said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, via the Texas Tribune.

Sanders will be campaigning in Iowa on Sept. 3 and Sept 4., hosting town meetings and a roundtable discussion.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.