Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
Claudia Bahena, of Burlington, North Carolina, right, is helped to register to vote during a voter registration drive by community activists, March 11, 2020.
On the final evening of the Democratic National Convention, Todos con Biden, a group of Latin American Democrats, met virtually to stress the importance of voting out Donald Trump. The group spoke about electing a president dedicated to bolstering health care, growing the economy, and improving infrastructure. But the most important messages of the night revolved around the need to change the nation’s rhetoric around immigration and Latin America.
Led by Rep. Tony Cárdenas (CA), Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ), and UnidosUS CEO Janet Murguía, the conversation highlighted the challenges Latin Americans face living under Trump. The trio spoke about increased levels of discrimination that members of their community face under the Trump presidency, which has threatened the community’s health and economic security.
After the election of President Trump, half of the nation’s Latin American population said their situation in the U.S. worsened. Last year, a gunman shot and killed 23 individuals at an El Paso Walmart in a xenophobic, white nationalist shooting. And this year, Latin Americans are dying from COVID-19 at a rate over three times that of white people. For the nation’s Latino population, voting in a president committed to change is a matter of life or death.
“We’ve seen through words, rhetoric, actions, policies that Trump’s done everything to demean our community and persecute our community,” Murguía said. She’s seen the president incite hate toward the Latino community through his politicization of both the border and Latinx migrants. This, coupled with the fact that roughly one out of three Latinos have contracted COVID-19, affirms to Murguía that the urgency of voting out Trump extends far beyond politics. “We need to vote like our lives depend on it, because they do,” she said.
Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, agrees that Trump’s vilification of Latin Americans has endangered the community. Beyond incidents of racism and disproportionate cases of COVID, Heyman says the Trump administration’s immigration policies have had a devastating economic impact on communities at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of which are majority-Latino. Border town economies rely heavily on commerce from individuals living in Mexico. Under Trump, the number of border arrests has continued to climb each year, causing some to avoid legal crossing altogether. “People don’t realize that that really impacts the entire economy as a whole,” Heyman said. The economies of states like Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona all rely on commerce with Mexico. “The U.S. side of the border would be the casualty in this situation,” he said.
During the discussion, Rep. Cárdenas stressed that immigration reform is “the best” thing the federal government can do to boost the U.S. economy. He said Joe Biden personally met with him and Rep. Gallego and guaranteed his commitment in the first hundred days of his presidency to reforming immigration, improving infrastructure, and bolstering access to health care. By committing himself to these policies, Biden has shown the group that he is open to listening and working with the nation’s Latin American community, putting the country on a path toward unity where Latinos are seen as citizens rather than outsiders.
For the members of Todos con Biden, voting out Trump means putting the United States on a path toward that unity. Dismantling the rhetoric of Trump offers Latin Americans greater safety and a greater sense of value. Electing a new president means driving the nation away from a mentality where those without white skin are seen as disposable foreign invaders. “What Latino voters are looking for is someone who acknowledges the importance of diversity as a strength in this country,” Murguía said. “We know Joe Biden will work for us, and he’ll bring us together.”
