{"id":14333,"date":"2024-09-27T16:11:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T16:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=14333"},"modified":"2024-09-27T16:11:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T16:11:25","slug":"changing-demographics-and-the-political-calculus-of-anti-immigrant-rhetoric-in-swing-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=14333","title":{"rendered":"Changing demographics and the political calculus of anti-immigrant rhetoric in swing states"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Gloria Rebecca Gomez<\/a><\/em>\/ Stateline<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n
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This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these \u201cswing states\u201d may decide the future of the country.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As former President Donald Trump worked to scuttle a bipartisan border deal<\/a> in Congress because it threatened to derail his campaign\u2019s focus on immigration, Republicans in Arizona unveiled a plan to empower local officials to jail and deport migrants<\/a>, decrying the federal government\u2019s lack of solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cArizona is in a crisis,\u201d state Senate President Warren Petersen said in late January. \u201cThis is directly due to the negligent inaction of the Biden administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed were months of GOP lawmakers in Arizona making use of Trump\u2019s border security rhetoric, employing xenophobic language to cast immigrants and asylum-seekers as criminals. But there was strident opposition to the plan, too, from many Latino and immigrant Arizonans who traveled to the state Capitol to protest the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris offer starkly different plans for the future of the 11 million people who live in the United States without legal status. Harris, in a bid to stave off accusations that she\u2019s soft on the border, has sought to establish a firm security stance. To that end, she has vowed to bring back and sign the torpedoed bipartisan border deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the campaign trail, Trump has taken a far more hawkish approach, promising mass deportations. He has offered few details, other than that he would be willing to involve the U.S. National Guard. President Joe Biden, Trump and other recent presidents have deployed <\/a>the National Guard or military troops to support Border Patrol actions, but not in direct law enforcement roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Immigration has consistently ranked high among voter concerns nationwide, following heightened political rhetoric and a record-breaking number of unlawful border crossings in late 2023. Those numbers have since plummeted to a three-year low<\/a>, but the U.S. border with Mexico remains a key talking point for Republican politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But immigration is a far more complex topic than border security alone, and strategists may be miscalculating by failing to consider some key voters and their nuanced perspectives, recent polling shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing populations of new and first-generation citizens in the swing states \u2014 with the power to sway elections \u2014 are transforming demographics and voter concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the legislation that would have allowed local law enforcement to usurp federal authority on immigration, but Republicans repackaged it as a ballot initiative called the \u201cSecure the Border Act.\u201d In a state that Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago<\/a>, and where political strategists anticipate high voter turnout, the ballot measure serves as a test of whether the GOP\u2019s immigration position will drive people to the polls in a swing state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many Republicans hope the immigration issue boosts their chances in down-ballot races<\/a>, progressive organizations are working to mobilize voters in opposition through canvassing and voter registration drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living United for Change in Arizona was established in the aftermath of the state\u2019s controversial \u201cshow me your papers\u201d law \u2014 SB 1070 \u2014 passed 14 years ago by Republican lawmakers. LUCHA Chief of Staff Abril Gallardo derided this year\u2019s Secure the Border Act as the latest iteration of that law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArizonans are sick of Republicans trying to bring back the SB 1070 era of separating families, mass deportations and children in detention centers,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re here to say, \u2018Not on our watch.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ballot measure has been widely criticized as greenlighting discrimination. Among other provisions, it would make it a state crime for migrants to cross the southern border anywhere except a legal port of entry and punish first-time offenders with six months in jail. Local police officers would be authorized to carry out arrests based on suspicion of illegal entry, and Arizona judges would be empowered to issue orders of deportation, undermining court rulings<\/a> that have concluded that enforcing immigration law is the sole purview of the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallardo said that LUCHA is focused on engaging with voters to ensure the proposal fails. The organization is part of a coalition of advocacy groups committed to knocking on more than 3 million doors before November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey can try to ignore us, but come Election Day and beyond, they will hear us, they will see us, and they will feel the strength of our movement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An August UnidosUS and BSP Research survey<\/a> asked Latino voters in Arizona about their top priorities on several issues related to immigration policy. The results show strong support for protecting longtime residents from deportation and offering them a path to citizenship \u2014 along with cracking down on human smugglers and drug traffickers. Policies centered on building a wall or mass deportation ranked near the bottom. In recent years, Latino voters in the state have helped reject virulently anti-immigrant candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latino voting strength<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, Latinos made up about 20% of the state\u2019s electorate, and they largely favored<\/a> Biden over Trump. Then, two years later, a record-breaking number of Latinos voted<\/a> in an election that saw Democrats win statewide offices<\/a>. Today, 1 in 4 Arizona voters is Latino, and a new poll from Univision<\/a> estimates that more than 600,000 will cast their ballots in the state\u2019s November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grand Canyon State is far from the only swing state with both impactful Latino and new-citizen voting blocs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still, campaigns might be ignoring these voters. The UnidosUS poll showed 51% of Latino voters in Georgia<\/a> hadn\u2019t been contacted by either party or any campaign, even though 56% say they\u2019re sure they\u2019ll vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is, I think, a wake-up call for both parties to reach out into the Latino community,\u201d said BSP senior analyst Stephen Nu\u00f1o-Perez in a Georgia Recorder story<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s still not a lot of education out there on why Latinos should be voting for one party or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers hovered right around there in other swing states. In Pennsylvania, that was true for 50%<\/a> of the people polled. In North Carolina, it was 49%<\/a>. In Nevada, 53%<\/a>. In each case, a higher percentage said they plan to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influence grows in dairy country<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The number of Latino voters in Wisconsin is a fraction of the electorate that lives in states closer to the U.S.-Mexico border but no less impactful. There are roughly 180,000 eligible Latino voters who call<\/a> the Badger State home. Biden carried Wisconsin in 2020 by a margin of just 25,000 votes, less than 1 percentage point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine Neumann-Ortiz is the executive director of Voces de la Frontera, a civil and workers rights organization that advocates on behalf of immigrants. She said that over time, the Latino vote has become increasingly sought after by politicians looking to gain office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t get it, you don\u2019t win it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neumann-Ortiz said that the rise of the Latino electorate has translated into political power. The group has been a longtime backer of driver\u2019s licenses for Wisconsinites without full citizenship status, and occupational licenses for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a federal policy that grants temporary work permits and protection from deportation to people who arrived in the country as minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow people without citizenship status to obtain driver\u2019s licenses. And just 12 give DACA recipients the opportunity to obtain medical or legal licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislation in Wisconsin to open up access to either license was blocked by the GOP legislative majority, though the movement behind the proposals drew support from top officials, including Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who backed driver\u2019s licenses for all as a policy priority<\/a> last year. Influential lobbying organizations, such as the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and the Dairy Business Association, both of which lean conservative, also threw their weight behind the push for universal driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neumann-Ortiz attributes that support to the fact that immigrants make up a large part of the state\u2019s dairy and agricultural industries. And in rural areas where dairy operations and farms are located, public transportation is sparse. United Migrant Opportunity Services, a Milwaukee-based farmworker advocacy organization, estimates that as much as 40% of the state\u2019s dairy <\/a>workers are immigrants. Other estimates indicate they contribute 80% of the labor on dairy farms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being over 1,000 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and border security are key issues for Wisconsinites, and their positions appear mixed. In a September survey <\/a>from Marquette University\u2019s Law School, 49% said they agreed with deporting all immigrants who have lived in the country for years, have jobs and no criminal record, while 51% opposed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly minted citizens stand to break new electoral ground<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Laila Martin Garcia moved to the United States with her husband and infant son eight years ago. November will be the first time she casts her ballot for a U.S. presidential candidate since she became a naturalized citizen two years ago in Pennsylvania, and she\u2019s elated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main reason for me to become a citizen was to vote,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, this is home. This is where my husband is, where my son is being raised, and I wanted to make sure that I was using my voice in any way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s part of another segment of the electorate that will have a chance to respond in the voting booth to the election-year emphasis on immigration: newly naturalized voters. In fiscal year 2023, just over 878,000 immigrants became naturalized<\/a> U.S. citizens, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. That number represents a slight decline from the previous fiscal year, when a little more than 969,000 people achieved naturalization \u2014 the highest number of new citizens in a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly naturalized voters can close the gaps in swing state races, according to Nancy Flores, who serves as the deputy director of the National Partnership for New Americans, a coalition of immigrant and refugee rights organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every presidential election year, the coalition partners with local organizations to assist eligible immigrants as they embark on the naturalization process and help newly naturalized citizens register to vote. New citizens, Flores said, are a great investment, because once they\u2019ve made a commitment to vote, they will likely continue to do so. And naturalized voters appear to cast their ballots at higher rates than U.S.-born citizens. In the 2020 election, about 66% of the general electorate turned out to vote, compared with nearly 87% of naturalized voters surveyed by the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year appears on track to repeat that trend: As many as 97.3% of naturalized voters<\/a> residing in states polled by the National Partnership for New Americans \u2014 including in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania \u2014 reported that they plan to vote this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a lot of folks, reaching the point of citizenship is really a lifetime achievement,\u201d Flores said. \u201cAnd we see that folks really don\u2019t take that lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Flores noted that naturalized citizens don\u2019t fit one single voter profile, most of them do share an immigrant background and so are sympathetic on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNew American voters are not a monolith,\u201d she said. \u201cFolks that are naturalized are doctors, professors. We have folks that are naturalized that are picking the fruit that we eat. It really runs the gamut, but the common thread is the immigrant experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A poll conducted by the organization<\/a> found that naturalized voters share many of the same concerns as other U.S. voters, including worries about inflation and the economy. But, Flores added, candidates who are looking to attract naturalized voters are likely to be most successful with the demographic group when they present a positive view of immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooking at immigration as an asset to our country, looking at how it can benefit the economy, looking at how we can provide pathways [to citizenship] that are humane \u2014 those things resonated with voters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Martin Garcia\u2019s experiences as an immigrant have colored her views as a voter. Immigration reform, she said, is at the top of her priorities. Originally from Barcelona, Spain, Martin Garcia arrived in the U.S. in the middle of Trump\u2019s first campaign, and she said she saw firsthand what his anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies wrought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her work as an advocate, she frequently helped families torn apart by deportations, and in her personal life, while trying to share her language and culture with her son, she dealt with nativist hostility. During one incident at the grocery store, while she was helping her toddler identify items in Spanish, a stranger accosted her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember he came up to me and said, \u2018We\u2019re in America, speak American,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cNow that I think of that moment, I have so many things to say to that person. But at that moment, I was so scared. I just took my child, left my cart there with half of my groceries, and left the shop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, she recalls that incident, and the rallies and protests during Trump\u2019s presidency, as catalysts for her civic engagement. Martin Garcia said she views the 2024 election as an opportunity to look out for the immigrant community\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe deserve to thrive, and we will be thinking about that,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to make sure that our communities have the right to thrive in this election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s on the table at the federal level?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The failed $118 billion bipartisan border plan<\/a> set aside $20 billion to pay for more border barriers, expanded detention facilities, more officers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, and legal counsel for unaccompanied children. The bill also included more than $80 billion destined for aid and humanitarian assistance overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal would also have overhauled the asylum system and eliminated the \u201ccatch-and-release\u201d system. It would have narrowed the criteria under which people can apply for asylum, fast-tracked the processing of existing claims and given migrants work authorizations while their claims reached resolution. The president would have been granted the power to shut down asylum claims processing altogether, once a certain number of claims had come through, resulting in more migrants being automatically deported during periods when there are a lot of border crossings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Vice President Kamala Harris to be able to sign the deal if she\u2019s elected president, it would have to clear both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, which appears unlikely unless Democrats win a majority in both chambers in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former President Donald Trump has said that if he\u2019s voted back into the White House for a second term, he will oversee mass deportations in the style of President Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s \u201cOperation W*tback.\u201d The 1954 policy<\/a> only succeeded in removing about 300,000 people, despite government claims that more than 1 million people were deported. Discriminatory tactics led to an unknown number of U.S. citizens being deported, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it might at first sound feasible and draw support from some voters, adding context quickly turns them away, said Douglas Rivlin, a spokesperson for America\u2019s Voice, a national immigration reform advocacy organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou start talking about the number of jobs we\u2019re going to lose, and the spike to inflation, and the hit to the U.S. economy contracting that way, and a lot of people turn against mass deportation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A May 2024 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> estimated that immigrants made up 18.6% of the U.S. labor force \u2014 about 1 in 5 workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivlin warned that mass deportation would necessarily result in the breaking up of families, and leave millions of U.S. citizen children in the lurch. As many as 4.4 million children who are citizens in the U.S. live with at least one parent<\/a> who does not have full citizenship status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t deport 11 million people and not rip apart families, especially because 4 or 5 million children live in those families,\u201d he said. \u201cAre you going to deport them, too? Or are they going into foster care?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most notorious policies enacted during Trump\u2019s presidency was his \u201czero tolerance\u201d immigration initiative, which separated thousands of migrant children and babies from their parents at the country\u2019s southern border. The policy ended after broad public backlash and federal lawsuits. More than 1,000 children remained separated from their families as of this spring, according to the most recent data available from the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s task force on reunification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of American voters, Rivlin said, don\u2019t want overly punitive immigration policies. Most favor opening up legal pathways to citizenship for the millions of people who\u2019ve made their home in the U.S. A June Pew Research survey<\/a> estimated that 59% of American voters believe that \u201cundocumented immigrants\u201d living in the country should be allowed to remain legally. And while there\u2019s been an uptick in voters who oppose offering citizenship to people without legal status, they remain in the minority, with 37% supporting a national deportation effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Gloria Rebecca Gomez\/ Stateline This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[92,84,81,91],"class_list":{"0":"post-14333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-slider","8":"tag-2024-election","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-latino-vote","11":"tag-nevada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14340,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14333\/revisions\/14340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}