{"id":13367,"date":"2023-08-08T15:40:28","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13367"},"modified":"2023-08-10T19:24:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T19:24:47","slug":"democrats-learn-the-hard-way-latino-voters-dont-just-care-about-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13367","title":{"rendered":"Democrats learn the hard way: Latino voters don\u2019t just care about immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by <\/em><\/a>Karen Tumult<\/strong><\/em>y<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As\nthe nation\u2019s oldest Latino civil rights organization gathered here this week\nfor its annual convention, anxiety over immigration issues could hardly have\nbeen higher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nhorror of babies confined in squalid, overcrowded detention centers along the\nsouthern border continued. President Trump had gone to the brink of ordering\nthat a citizenship question be added to the 2020 Census, before backing down.\nAnd undocumented families across the country were bracing for Immigration and\nCustoms Enforcement raids, in which thousands could be rounded up and deported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nFriday, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) members added another\nevent to their convention agenda: A march to the local office of Republican\nSen. Ron Johnson, who had declined their request to meet while they were in\ntown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprotesters delivered dolls in cages to Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland\nSecurity Committee<\/a>, whose panel has oversight responsibility for the\nagencies that are carrying out the border detention program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nwhen four Democratic presidential contenders appeared at a LULAC forum the\nnight before, the majority of questions they were asked had nothing to do with\nany of this. The topics were culled from submissions by 3,300 LULAC members and\nreflected the full spectrum of the concerns that shape their daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former\nhousing and urban development secretary Juli\u00e1n Castro was quizzed about the\nhigh cost of college tuition. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) promised that if\nshe were elected, mental illness would get the same coverage as other medical\nproblems. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was challenged to explain how he would\npersuade a broad swath of the electorate to support his proposal to eliminate\nprivate health insurance. And Beto O\u2019Rourke was asked to explain how he would\nreinvigorate the middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None\nof this was a surprise to O\u2019Rourke, who is a former congressman from El Paso, a\ncity that is nearly 80 percent<\/a> Hispanic. \u201cImmigration is\nobviously not the only issue, nor should it be the defining issue,\u201d he said\nafter the session. \u201cI\u2019ve learned that every single issue is important to the\nLatino community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More\nunexpected was an undercurrent of unease here that the Democratic Party, in its\nrevulsion over Trump\u2019s harsh policies and obnoxious rhetoric, is positioning\nitself too far to the left on immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthe Democrats hold an enormous electoral advantage with Hispanic voters, their\nturnout has traditionally lagged that of other ethnic groups. But last\nNovember\u2019s midterms saw a 50 percent increase<\/a> in Latino participation\ncompared with the midterm elections four years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite expectations that Latinos will be a crucial constituency in 2020, LULAC President Domingo Garcia<\/a> told me that he thinks Democratic candidates made a mistake at a recent presidential debate. All 10 candidates who were onstage for the second night of debate raised their hands to show they would support providing government health coverage to people who are in the country illegally. Most of the others who are running have also said they would support that idea. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the fact that many U.S. citizens \u2014 a disproportionate number<\/a> of them Hispanic \u2014 still lack coverage, \u201cthat was not a good general-election position to begin with, and it does not win them many votes in the Latino community,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nalso represents a sharp shift from a decade ago. When President Barack Obama\npledged during a 2009 speech to Congress that his health program would not\ncover undocumented immigrants, a Republican congressman from South Carolina\nshouted: \u201cYou lie!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nGarcia said, he worries that both parties are \u201cpandering to their extremes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor\nis he the only Latino leader concerned that Democrats could be creating\npolitical problems for themselves as they move into new territory on\nimmigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\nlate, there has been a rush to call for decriminalization of unauthorized\nborder crossings, after that issue became a flash point<\/a> between Castro and O\u2019Rourke during\nthe first presidential debate. O\u2019Rourke argued that there are other ways to\nprevent family separations; Castro later chided that his fellow Texan \u201cneeds to\ndo his homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cecilia\nMu\u00f1oz, who was a top Obama White House aide, told my Post colleagues <\/a>that even having that\ndiscussion is playing into Trump\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\nallows him to make a claim that he is already making, which is Democrats are\nfor an open border,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it makes it harder to explain why that is\nnot true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\nhas ceded the moral ground on immigration, and though he surely did not intend\nto, has also awakened the nation\u2019s awareness of the forces of desperation that\ndrive so many to risk so much to come to this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Latino voters want \u2014 and deserve \u2014 to hear more from the candidates than they have thus far. Not just about how to solve the crisis at the border, but how to make life better for everyone who is already here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen Tumulty<\/em><\/a> Karen Tumulty is a Washington Post columnist covering national politics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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