{"id":14386,"date":"2025-01-09T15:26:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=14386"},"modified":"2025-01-09T15:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:26:21","slug":"immigration-firebrand-takes-reins-of-the-hispanic-caucus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=14386","title":{"rendered":"Immigration firebrand takes reins of the Hispanic Caucus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rafael Berna<\/strong>l<\/a><\/em>, The Hill<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Latino Democrats, under new management for the 119th Congress, are looking to flex their muscle under a razor-thin Republican House majority that could make or break President-elect Trump\u2019s immigration agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), known for his immigration advocacy, took the reins of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), a group he says is ready to engage on a host of policy issues but determined to play a central role on immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just about immigration, but immigration is an emblematic issue that\u2019s joined at the hip to the Latino Caucus. So no matter how much someone tries to say that we\u2019re not connected there, we are. Because nationally it\u2019s seen that way, and because the vast majority of people that are impacted by immigration issues are Hispanic or Latino descent,\u201d Espaillat told The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo whatever proposal the administration brings forward, I think we will be a key element in the response to that, whether it is educating our community to make sure that they know their rights, providing funding for legal services, combating any practices that may be seen [as] or that are inhumane, creating the ambience and the atmosphere where there could be some agreement, and some things that benefit immigrants, like, for example, Dreamers or even farmworkers or family reunification or TPS [Temporary Protected Status] recipients,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though CHC chairs all deal intimately with immigration, the group has rarely been led by a member as close to the issue as Espaillat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outgoing Chair Nanette D\u00edaz Barrag\u00e1n (D-Calif.), who fought Democratic leadership last year over the group\u2019s exclusion from the doomed Senate border deal, made her name on energy, environment and health care issues. Her predecessor, Rep. Raul Ruiz <\/a>(D-Calif.) is an emergency room physician and rural health advocate; Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) is most closely identified with foreign policy, intelligence and diversity and inclusion work; and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham <\/a>(D) is best known for her work with elder care and land management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Espaillat\u2019s fellow Democrats and CHC members have seen him go to the mattresses on immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, he and Reps. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (D-Ill.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) became known as the \u201cthree amigos\u201d when they threatened to tank budget talks unless House Democrats included immigration provisions in a reconciliation bill that required no Republican buy-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three amigos\u2019 red line irked some Democrats and CHC members<\/a>, including then-Chair Ruiz, who favored a more conciliatory approach to avoid highlighting a rift between progressives and centrists in the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the main ask was to include an update to the registry \u2014 a sort of statute of limitations for undocumented immigration \u2014 in the budget, a provision that could have allowed millions of immigrants lacking permanent legal status who don\u2019t have criminal records to apply for permanent citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate parliamentarian eventually blocked that move on a technicality, but Espaillat, Garc\u00eda and Correa forced House Democrats to take an unprecedented risk on immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got [then-Speaker Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.] to include it,\u201d Espaillat said. \u201cIt was tough to get her there, but I think it took us to take a tough stand and to sort of like draw a line in the sand. \u2026 You know, we were disappointed that the Senate was not able to carry through on that, but at least our leadership acknowledged it and included it, and so that was a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Espaillat, the third foreign-born CHC chair after Ruiz and former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas), knows the CHC\u2019s asks and tactics will have to adjust under the new Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, registry is sort of like the simple fix, right? And it\u2019s one that will capture a significant number of people. I don\u2019t know if this administration will accept registry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that there\u2019s a possibility that they can accept some things, and I\u2019m open to have a discussion with them on things that may be practical and achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The range of what\u2019s practical and achievable, Espaillat said, could change over the next two years, as the Trump White House\u2019s deportation proposals begin to hit home with individual communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think, by the way, that the narrative, the opinion of America, will change. I think it will change somewhat rapidly, because the minute a mom \u2014 any mom, a white mom, an African American mom, a middle-class mom, even a rich mom \u2014 the minute a mom hears a baby, hears a baby crying in the middle of the night, asking for their mother because they\u2019ve been split up, right? I think that that\u2019s going to move America, as it did before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Espaillat hopes to use his personal experience to keep the CHC at the forefront of immigration, he expects the group\u2019s members to take the lead on other key topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we have a lot of talent in the CHC on different issues, and I think that delegating duties to members on different issues, like, for example, farmworkers, you have Lou Correa, [Rep.] Salud Carbajal [D-Calif.], [Rep. Jim] Costa [D-Calif.], they\u2019re all leaders on farmworkers. [On] housing you have [Rep. Robert] Garcia [D-Calif.] \u2026 [Rep.] Gabe Vasquez [D-N.M.], you know, who brings in a different aspect of housing, because it\u2019s like more rural, right? You have [Rep.] Delia Ramirez [D-Ill.], who\u2019s very \u2014 on the [Smithsonian] Latino Museum, you have her and other people that have a keen interest on the Latino Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond immigration, the Dominican-born Espaillat is looking to leverage both his personal experience and the group\u2019s collective record to raise the CHC\u2019s profile in foreign policy, particularly as it relates to Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware of the Democratic Alliance, which is Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama and Ecuador, those four countries, somebody like [Rep.] Vicente Gonzalez [D-Texas] has great relationships in Mexico, Guatemala. We were both actually asked by the State Department to be at [Salvadoran President Nayib] Bukele\u2019s swearing-in ceremony, and we went there. Joaquin [Castro] is an overall expert, and we got to take the lead from him, obviously, and see how we strengthen his position,\u201d Espaillat said, also pointing to Guatemala-born Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) as a regional expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I just think that we could be more impactful when it comes to Latin American and Caribbean issues than we are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the CHC\u2019s focus on the Western Hemisphere could present an opportunity to work with the Trump administration, particularly with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump\u2019s nominee to lead the State Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, you know, even though we may differ on some views regarding Latin America and the Caribbean, yes, I think that presents an opportunity to \u2014 the Summit of the Americas will be held this year in the Dominican Republic, in December of this coming year, and that will be a great platform, forum to discuss some things, I think very strongly that the U.S., for a long time, has not had a major initiative in the Americas,\u201d Espaillat said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Espaillat, who opposes one-party systems \u201cwhether from the left or the right,\u201d framed that renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere as part of a broader geopolitical goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Chinese President] Xi Jinping have said that, you know, democracy is weak and that their systems work better. And you know their systems \u2014 at least in Russia\u2019s side it has led to a conflict in the Ukraine, and in China, there are also major obstacles and contradictions. So democracy, I think, still works. It requires a little bit more effort, but at the end of the day, you know, it\u2019s one that guarantees a greater number of seats at the table, and I think that\u2019s important and worthwhile fighting for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

By Rafael Bernal, The Hill Latino Democrats, under new management for the 119th Congress, are looking to flex their muscle under a razor-thin Republican House majority that could make or break President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda. Last […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,69],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-14386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-slider","category-immigration","tag-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14386","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=14386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14389,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14386\/revisions\/14389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}