ThinkProgress Logo

Stories tagged with “Latinos”

Election

The Case Of The Missing Hispanic Voters

By Ruy Teixeira, Guest Blogger on May 13, 2013 at 12:34 pm

As I pointed out on TP Ideas last Thursday, the new Census voting data show that the GOP’s problem in 2012 was not “missing white voters”, but rather the ongoing march of demographic change. In fact, if we want to talk about missing voters, it makes more sense to talk about missing Latino voters.

Latino turnout lagged white turnout by a very substantial 16 points (48 percent vs. 64 percent). These missing voters are helping the GOP at this point, blunting the impact of demographic change on Republican electoral fortunes. But that might not last forever: this gap represents a potential tranche of votes which, if tapped by successful mobilization efforts, could make GOP’s situation much worse than it already is.

How much worse?  Reid Wilson at National Journal did the math, using census data to show how many additional Hispanic votes would be generated by state if Hispanic turnout matched white turnout:

Of course, Obama won anyway in 2012, even with all these missing Hispanic votes.  But in closer elections, they could be critical. Perhaps one day, mobilizing these Hispanic voters might play a significant role in turning Texas purple, Arizona blue and Colorado and Nevada even bluer.

Maybe instead of worrying about missing white voters, Republicans should start worrying about missing Hispanic voters. And what might happen if they started showing up.

Immigration

STUDY: Fearing Deportation, Latinos Don’t Report Crimes

By Esther Yu-Hsi Lee on May 8, 2013 at 2:18 pm

(Credit: Kevork Djansezian)

A new study released reveals that Latinos are less likely to report crimes to the police because they are afraid of being asked of their immigration status. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago shed light on the lack of public trust that Latinos have in public enforcement officials, and how public safety levels decreased as an indirect consequence of police involvement in immigration affairs.

The survey included 2,000 Hispanics from Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston wherein 44 percent of all Latinos surveyed were unlikely to contact police if they are targets of a crime. Forty-five percent of the same participants also indicated that they were unlikely to report crime. That number shoots up to about 70 percent of undocumented Latino immigrants who indicated that they would neither file a police report for being a victim nor for being a witness. Instead because “they fear that police officers will use this interaction as an opportunity to inquire into their immigration status or that of people they know,” about 70 percent of undocumented immigrants are more likely to tell their church or community leader, which suggests that “lack of trust centers on local law enforcement authorities and not on community institutions or public figures in general.”

Long a primary target of immigration raids, Latinos feel disconnected from police officers who swear to protect them, but instead take on immigration enforcement duties when tasked to help. In the short term, growing suspicion by Latinos makes crime more difficult to solve, while the long-term consequence makes them generally fearful of law enforcement authorities.

Deportations have increased 40 percent in 2012 from when President Bush left office. Some cities like Austin are protecting immigrant victims by prohibiting law enforcement officials from inquiring about their immigration status. Colorado took similar measures to repeal a state law that required police to alert federal authorities during arrests when they suspected that the person was undocumented. Yet such amendments were put in place because the widespread mistrust and subsequent under-reporting of crime that immigrant communities face was jeopardizing public safety.

Immigration

WATCH: Former Republican Cabinet Secretary Dismantles ‘Dangerous’ Right-Wing Immigration Talking Point

By Scott Keyes and Zack Beauchamp on Apr 22, 2013 at 11:20 am

Former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (R)

MIAMI, Florida — A former cabinet secretary under President George W. Bush took apart a main talking point that conservatives have used to oppose immigration reform.

Speaking at the Hispanic Leadership Network conference, former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez addressed the notion, oft-repeated on the right, that immigrants “take jobs away from Americans.” That idea “is so dangerous because it is so wrong,” said Gutierrez. He pointed to two examples of immigrants he knew, one farmer and one restaurant owner, who were already thriving. If they can find more workers, they could expand, giving “more American citizens jobs,” Gutierrez noted.

GUTIERREZ: The idea that, some people are saying these days that immigrants are coming to take jobs away from Americans, is so dangerous because it is so wrong. For the government to start making policies on the basis of that assumption is something that can really impact this economy in a negative way. Let me give you two examples. [...] A pumpkin farmer, tremendous family business, he would say, “look, if I had more workers, I would grow. I would extend my field, I would open up more distribution centers, and I would give more American citizens jobs.” Another gentleman has three restaurants. A new business, small business. He said, “if I had enough workers, I would have eight restaurants.” Like a microcosm of the economy. That is what’s happening everywhere, so you multiply that by hundreds of thousands of businesses that could grow if we had a legal immigration system that works.

Watch it:

If anyone knows about the intersection of immigration and business, it’s Gutierrez. He emigrated to the United States from Cuba when he was a child and went on to enjoy a long and successful business career at Kellogg’s. In addition to serving under President Bush, Gutierrez serves on the board of the Hispanic Leadership Network, a right-wing organization designed to sell Latinos on conservatism.

His assertion that immigration boosts the economy and jobs is backed up by a wealth of research. Immigration reform could boost the nation’s gross domestic product by $1.5 trillion over the next decade and produce an addition 750,000 to 900,000 jobs. In addition, immigration reform could boost workers’ wages by anywhere from 0.4 to 0.6 percent.

Though Democrats have long combated the ridiculous notion that there are a finite number of jobs in the United States — the idea that one more job taken by an immigrant means one less job for an American citizen — Gutierrez and other voices on the right are beginning to speak truth to the right as well.

Politics

Jeb Bush: ‘There Should Be No Surprise’ That Republicans Keep Losing The Minority Vote

By Zack Beauchamp and Scott Keyes on Apr 19, 2013 at 12:30 pm

MIAMI — At a conservative Latino conference where the mere mention of his name as a presidential candidate drew wild applause, former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) delivered a blistering critique of Republican outreach to racial minorities, calling the GOP a “reactionary party” bereft of ideas both for appealing to minority voters and for repairing the country more broadly.

Bush’s comments came at the annual Hispanic Leadership Network conference, where “right of center” Latinos meet to discuss politics and policy — this year’s focus is comprehensive immigration reform. The governor delivered the keynote address at the conference’s Thursday afternoon session, which is where he leveled his bleak assessment of the GOP on race:

BUSH: Immigration is a gateway issue. It’s not the dominant — you ask people the polling, immigration’s important — but it’s not the dominant [issue]. Education’s more important, health care’s more important. Jobs are more important. [...] But if you send a signal, “yeah yeah, we want your vote” — Of course we want your vote, everybody wants your vote, but you can’t be part of our team, you can’t join our club, you’re not who I am. We don’t have a set of shared values.” You think people are going to embrace that kind of attitude? That’s exactly what we’ve done in about six election cycles in a row. So it should be no surprise that we have the result we have.

Watch it:

Bush has recently gotten into hot water with factions both to his right and his left. He claims to support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, but has taken a muddled and at times contradictory position on the issue in recent weeks. Not only is this stance unpopular on the anti-immigration reform right, but Bush’s frequent criticisms of the GOP’s hard-right wing swing have angered some grassroots conservatives.

ThinkProgress attempted to ask Bush about how he would reach out to another group of minority voters, LGBT Americans, but Bush wouldn’t listen to the question.

Politics

Republican Congressman Says Appealing To ‘So-Called Hispanic Voters’ Is ‘Very Discouraging’

By Scott Keyes on Apr 10, 2013 at 1:18 pm

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) took issue with his party’s attempt to win over Latino voters after the drubbing it took in the 2012 election.

“[It's] very discouraging,” Huelskamp told conservative radio host Steve Deace on Tuesday, that Republicans are trying “to win votes from the so-called ‘Hispanic voter.’” The conservative congressman argued that trying to persuade Latino voters to become Republicans was “very distracting” because their policy preferences are too disparate. He then conceded that Democrats had done far better winning their votes:

HUELSKAMP: If you’re going to talk about giving a pathway to citizenship before you seal the border. They made a mistake in ’86; I’m not going to repeat that. That’s not going to go through the House. What is interesting and very distracting and very discouraging is, Steve, after the election, the general discussion from Republicans in Washington was, we’ve got to do everything we can to win votes from the so-called “Hispanic voter.” And I say so-called because there’s all kinds of varieties of beliefs within that immigrant community. And the idea that suddenly, instead of voting 70 percent for the Democrats, somehow they’re going to start voting for Republican? No. What Republicans need to do is get off their rear ends and go out, outside of Washington, and talk about what they’re for!

Listen to it (relevant sections begins at 1:10):

It’s been a less-than-ideal stretch for Republicans trying to promote inclusion and tolerance in their party. In the past month, Republicans apologized to “colored people” for using the term “nigger-rigging,” called Latinos “wetbacks,” and introduced legislation to discriminate against non-English speakers.

Health

Latinos’ Overwhelming Support For Obamacare Is Yet Another Obstacle To The RNC’s Hispanic Outreach

By Tara Culp-Ressler on Apr 1, 2013 at 9:00 am

Several weeks ago, a Republican National Committee “autopsy” of the GOP’s 2012 election loss put forth a strategy for better engaging with diverse communities, explaining that Republicans must improve their outreach to Latino voters in order to attract new people to the party. That effort hasn’t had much success so far — as one Republican used a racial slur to describe Latinos, another decided to close his state’s Latino Affairs office, and several top members of the party have continued to dodge questions on comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.

Now, yet another major obstacle to the GOP’s Hispanic outreach is emerging: Latinos’ strong support for health care reform. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Republicans likely won’t have much luck attempting to woo Latinos with messages about how they want to keep attempting to repeal Obamacare, which Hispanic voters support by a 2 to 1 margin:

Latinos, who have the lowest rates of health coverage in the country, are among the strongest backers of President Obama’s healthcare law. In a recent national poll, supporters outnumbered detractors by more than 2 to 1. Latinos also overwhelmingly see guaranteeing healthcare as a core government responsibility, surveys show.

Yet congressional Republicans continue to make repeal of the 2010 Affordable Care Act a top agenda item and have renewed calls for deep cuts in health programs such as Medicaid, which are very popular with Latinos. [...]

“This is going to hurt Republicans,” said Matt Barreto, cofounder of Latino Decisions, a nonpartisan national polling firm. “When Republicans keep saying they will repeal the health law, Latinos hear the party is going to take away their healthcare.”

About two-thirds of Latinos think the federal government should ensure that everyone has access to health insurance. According to Lorena Chambers, a Latina media consultant who was involved with the push to pass Obamacare, that’s largely because the Hispanic community understands the value of the United States’ social safety net. “Latinos realize that government will not fulfill every need, but what they admire about the United States is that the government steps in when there is a need,” Chambers told the Los Angeles Times.

And since nearly 30 percent of Latino citizens and legal permanent residents are currently uninsured, and another 30 percent rely on public health insurance programs because they can’t access health care through their employers, the Hispanic community stands to benefit from Obamacare’s reforms. It makes sense, then, that many Latinos would be turned off by hearing Republicans declare that Obamacare will “literally” kill people, or that the GOP will keep trying to repeal health care reform no matter what.

Justice

After RNC Calls For Hispanic Outreach, Republican Governor Eliminates Latino Affairs Office

By Rebecca Leber on Mar 29, 2013 at 3:00 pm


The Republican National Committee devoted much of the attention of its “autopsy” report to improving party outreach to people of color. The report noted it is “imperative that the RNC changes how it engages with Hispanic communities to welcome in new members of our Party.” Yet, if the autopsy report had any effect at all, it appears to be short-lived. Since last week, top Republicans have dodged discussing immigration reform with citizenship, while one congressman used a racial slur to describe Latinos.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s (R) contribution to this effort is to unexpectedly close the state’s Latino Affairs office, an office that normally engaged with Latino leaders on policy, offered bilingual assistance for disaster victims, and collected demographic statistics on the state’s 800,000 Latino residents.

The governor’s office said it will shift some of the office’s duties to a general office for community and constituent affairs. “We are committed to serving the needs of all of North Carolina’s citizens,” McCrory’s chief of staff said. “We don’t segment our constituents by race or cultural background, any more than we separate them by age or gender.”

But Latino advocates criticize the decision. Executive Director of Latin American Coalition in Charlotte Jess George told McClatchy, “The message from Raleigh is that Latinos in North Carolina don’t matter.”

Just before closing the Latino Affairs office, North Carolina pursued a controversial driver’s license design that would distinguish young undocumented immigrants’s licenses by a pink stripe and the words, “NO LAWFUL STATUS” printed across. The state somewhat modified the design when it faced community backlash.

Justice

Republicans Demand GOP Congressman Apologize For Calling Latinos ‘Wetbacks’

By Aviva Shen on Mar 29, 2013 at 12:15 pm

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is catching flack even from his colleagues for his casual use of a racial slur against Latinos in an interview this week. Young was reminiscing about his family ranch in California, where they would “hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes.” Young seemed confused at the backlash, saying he “meant no disrespect,” but stopped short of actually apologizing for the remark.

Young’s comment has been swiftly disowned by Democrats as well as his fellow Republicans, who have stressed the need to win over the fast-growing Latino voter bloc through greater tolerance and outreach.

1. SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): “Migrant workers come to America looking for opportunity and a way to provide a better life for their families. They do not come to this country to hear ethnic slurs and derogatory language from elected officials. The comments used by Rep. Young do nothing to elevate our party, political discourse or the millions who come here looking for economic opportunity.”

2. HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): “Congressman Young’s remarks were offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds. I don’t care why he said it – there’s no excuse and it warrants an immediate apology.”

3. RNC CHAIRMAN REINCE PRIEBUS: “The words used by Representative Young emphatically do not represent the beliefs of the Republican Party.”

4. REP. RUBEN HINOJOSA (D-TX), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus: “Shame on Rep. Don Young. It is deeply disheartening that in 2013 we are forced to have a discussion about a member of Congress using such hateful words and racial slurs…When elected officials use racial slurs, it sets back our nation and sets back legislators who are seriously working toward real, bipartisan solutions. Rep. Young says that he was just using the language he was accustomed to as he grew up, but there is no excuse for ignorance. He has served alongside Hispanics in Congress since 1973, so he should know terms like “wetback” have never been acceptable. As the Republican minority outreach efforts develop, I’d advise their strategists to list “don’t say racial slurs like ‘wetback’ ” as a bedrock for their messaging.

5. DREAM ACTION COALITION: “While senseless rhetoric used by Republicans is hardly surprising, what is surprising is that the Gang of 8 leaders working on immigration reform are not publicly condemning these remarks…As senators that come from states with large latino and immigrant communities, Sen. Schumer and Sen. Rubio must condemn these insensible remarks to demonstrate their commitment to fixing our broken immigration system and demonstrate neither party will tolerate insulting remarks against Latinos, immigrants, or any community in our country.”

6. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): “Don Young’s comments were offensive and have no place in our Party or in our nation’s discourse. He should apologize immediately.”

Despite constant exhortations to reach out to minorities and young people, the GOP has continued to be plagued by racial intolerance. Even as lawmakers rushed to disavow Young’s offensive slur, 38 Republicans and 1 Democrat introduced a House bill to make English the official language of the United States.

Update

By Friday afternoon, Young had issued a full apology:

“I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I’m sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform.”

Justice

Anti-Immigrant Republicans Block ‘GOP en Español’ Outreach Program

By Aviva Shen on Feb 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm

After resoundingly losing the Hispanic vote in 2012, Republicans are making their pitch to Hispanic voters. These new efforts range from pushing for immigration reform to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) plan to deliver the GOP’s State of the Union response in both Spanish and English. However, the House Republican Conference’s new “GOP en Español” initiative to distribute Spanish translations of Republican State of the Union reactions proved to be the last straw for some factions of the party.

Opposition from Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has sponsored “English-only” legislation to make English the official language of the US, stalled the launch of GOP en Español. In an interview with the National Journal, King explained:

“There’s a conflicting message that comes out from the Republicans if we want to recognize the unifying power of English, and meanwhile, we send out communications in multiple languages. Official business and documents needs to be in English.” [...] He says that English is “empowering and unifying” and that the GOP en Español program “sends a subliminal message in contradiction.”

The English only movement has gained traction in sixteen states, and even more extreme legislation is being considered by some Republican-dominated legislatures. “English only” laws often prohibit state and local government officials, and sometimes private companies, from conducting any business in Spanish or providing translations of certain documents, cutting off the 25.2 million Americans who speak limited English.

Hispanic voters are the fastest growing minority in the US, and supported Obama by 75 percent in the November election. Though some Republicans are trying to change this by pushing for immigration reform and greater tolerance, former Secretary of State Colin Powell (R) blasted his party for “a dark vein of intolerance” that alienates minorities. Past GOP outreach efforts have fallen flat; during the election, the Republican National Committee’s Hispanic outreach site took flack for using a stock photo of Asian children, while multiple candidates’ Spanish language websites either avoided or altered their stances on immigration.

Health

Why Undocumented Immigrants Are Turning To Underground, Cash-Only Clinics To Get Health Care

By Sy Mukherjee on Jan 14, 2013 at 10:45 am

Obamacare seeks to extend health coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans, but that doesn’t include the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. And as Kaiser Health News reports, that oversight — along with the historical difficulty that undocumented immigrants face when trying to obtain coverage — has led to the proliferation of underground, cash-only “bodega clinicas” in Los Angeles migrant communities.

The clinicas aim to serve Latino immigrants who do not have public or private health insurance. Strictly speaking, they are closer to private primary care doctors’ offices than public clinics that are subject to much tighter regulations. But while the community clinics provide immigrants with a much needed service, their off-the-grid nature has some health officials worried about the quality of care that they provide.

Still, care providers also see in the clinicas the potential to ease the burden of America’s primary care doctor shortage:

Health officials see in the clinicas the tantalizing opportunity to fill persistent and profound gaps in the county’s strained safety net, including a chronic shortage of primary care physicians. By January 2014, up to 2 million currently uninsured Angelenos will need to enroll in Medicaid or buy insurance and find primary care. And the clinicas, public health officials note, are already well established in the county’s poorest neighborhoods where they are meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking residents. The clinicas also could continue to serve a market that the Affordable Care Act does not touch: undocumented immigrants who are prohibited from getting health insurance under the law.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, deputy director for Community Health at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said bodega clinicas, a term he seems to have coined, that agree to some scrutiny could be a good way of addressing the physician shortage in these neighborhoods.

“Where are we going to find those providers?” he said. “One logical place to consider looking is these clinics.”

The clinicas are obviously not a perfect solution. While the clinicas could make for an effective source of cost-effective primary care, their cash-only model does pose some risks for the people who may need more specialized and expensive care — after all, paying $120 in cash for antibiotics is one thing, but $5,000 for a surgery is another story entirely. For more extensive care, these immigrants will require some sort of public or private insurance coverage.

But barring comprehensive immigration reform or additional measures to extend health benefits to America’s undocumented immigrants, Los Angeles’ clinicas are many people’s realities.

Older

Switch to Mobile
ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up