Millions of undocumented parents and youth took a painful hit last week when the U.S. Supreme Court announced its 4-4 decision on a lawsuit challenging two immigration relief programs issued by President Barack Obama almost two years ago. A split stance on the issue means both DAPA and extended DACA remain blocked.

But immigration rights advocates, and immigrants who could have benefited from DAPA (which would grant parents of U.S. citizen or resident children relief from deportation and a renewable three-year work permit) and DACA II (an extension without age restrictions for DREAMers who didn’t qualify for Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which also granted a three-year work permit rather than a two-year permit) say they are committed to keeping the community united and strong.

They’re also reminding Latino voters and allies in the fight for immigration reform that the elections in November will be decisive. Even though the roughly 5 million undocumented immigrants who could have qualified for DAPA or extended DACA cannot vote, they sure as hell know people who can, including their U.S. citizen children who turned, or will turn, 18 before the General Election. 

According to an April article on The Hill, the number of Latino voters is “skyrocketing,” especially since presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made a political career out of calling Latin American immigrants rapists and criminals, and promised xenophobes he would build a bigger wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials, projects 13.1 million Hispanics will vote nationwide in 2016, compared to 11.2 million in 2012 and 9.7 million in 2008. 

Now, the same article says that only about 48 percent of those eligible to vote actually do so. Please, use this right—we are a big force and it is our moral responsibility to show up on behalf of fellow immigrants who wish they could participate in this decision-making.

Locally, organizations like Keep Tucson Together—a volunteer-based project that helps undocumented people seek relief and get free legal representation—say they are still committed to help young immigrants get DACA (the 2012 program is still up and running) and eventually a path to citizenship for all.

“Latino voters will hold the 26 states responsible in November in the same way that the community held California responsible after Prop. 187. This decision doesn’t sadden us; it reminds us of what is at stake and makes us stronger,” Margo Cowan, Keep Tucson Together’s supervising attorney says in a press release.

Every Thursday at 5:30 p.m., you can find Keep Tucson Together volunteers at Pueblo High School, helping youth apply for DACA and giving free legal advise to other immigrants. (I wrote a story about them last year, “Moving Along.”)  Since 2012, they have worked with more than 1,500 Tucson immigrant youth in applying to DACA, and helped more than 130 people become U.S. citizens since September 2015, the group says in a press release.

In Tucson and across the country groups like Keep Tucson Together will continue to fight to keep our families and our communities together.

“This decision is especially disappointing to my US Citizen child who continues to feel that they are not considered a full citizen because I remain undocumented” says Silvia Herrera, a DAPA-eligible mom, in the Keep Tucson Together press release. ”We will continue to work to improve the lives of our neighbors and that means building strong, active communities that make our city and our country a better place for everyone.”  

This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2016.

I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I moved to Tucson about 10 years ago. Since I was old enough to enjoy reading, I developed an interest in writing, and telling stories through different...

13 replies on “Not All is Lost with Immigration Reform, Latinos Can Still Make a Difference in November”

  1. What other laws are they breaking? Or do they just enter a country illegally and then obey all the other laws?

  2. Those children should be holding their parents responsible.

    There will NEVER be a thank you to the American taxpayer.

    Leeches, cockroaches.

  3. This will be the same situation with the Syrian refugees and their 7 wives, 20 kids. Family reunification. Ever wonder why it’s all men coming in?

  4. George W. Bush received more than 40% of the Latino vote. He served 2 terms.

    In 2008, John McCain received 31% of the Latino vote and he lost the election. Mitt Romney got 27% of the Latino vote and lost.

    The Republican Party, concerned, conducted an autopsy and concluded that the Republican Party should reach out to Latino voters and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

    The autopsy was ignored and the Republican Party has doubled down on alienating Latino voters. I predict the Republican Party will receive a record low percentage of the Latino vote in November.

  5. Certainly productive immigrants with clean records should be given legal status, but not until there is meaningful enforcement and a reduction in both legal and illegal immigration. And Trump is dead wrong in insulting immigrants.
    But immigration rates are currently at 1.5 million per year, 6 times historic averages. This is not sustainable.
    Advocates of “immigration reform,” which increases legal immigration even further while doing very little about illegal immigration, need to acknowledge the concerns of the other side. Every past “immigration reform” has led to even more immigration (legal and illegal).
    High immigration disproportionately hurts the working class, especially minorities, while enriching the elites. So why would Latinos favor it? It leads to an overpopulated country and low wages.

  6. Latinos will definitely make a difference come Nov 8. However there is still a large number of Latinos who still believe that we are a nation of laws. Little is ever spoken of the American born and raised Hispanic who opposes Obama’s immigration policies. There are Latinos who believe that America should take care of it’s own, first and fore most, the U.S.citizen” Are they race traitors as the left would have us to believe? No they’re not. first and foremost they are Americans.

  7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/27/opposition-to-immigration-reform-is-a-winning-strategy-for-republicans/

    “By any measure, fears of (Illegal) immigration are driving many white Americans to the Republican Party. And, indeed, the Republican strategy on immigration appears to have been successful. Republicans now control the House and the Senate, the governor’s office in 31 states, and two-thirds of the state legislatures. They are winning the political war.”

    “An even bigger factor is that the ties of racial and ethnic minorities to the Democratic Party are tenuous. Research by Taeku Lee and myself shows that most Latinos and Asian Americans don’t feel like they fit into either party. In national surveys, those who refuse to answer a question about party identification, those who claim that they do not think in partisan terms, and independents make up the clear majority of both groups. All told, 56 percent of Latinos and 57 percent of Asian-American identify as nonpartisans.

    Even among blacks, there are signs of ambivalence. Almost 30 percent of blacks feel
    that the Democratic Party does not work hard for black interests.”

    http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20151016_As_Trump_fades__be_smart_about_immigration.html#disqus_thread

    “Most Hispanics aren’t single-issue voters when it comes to immigration. A recent Gallup poll found that among registered Latino voters, 67 percent are at least willing to support a candidate who doesn’t share their views on immigration. And 18 percent don’t consider the issue important at all.

    What’s more, many Hispanic citizens have little sympathy for immigrants who haven’t played by the rules. Especially among Latino voters born in the United States, resentment of immigrants who have entered the country illegally can run deep. Forty-two percent of American-born Hispanics disapprove of President Obama’s executive actions to prevent the deportation of illegal immigrants.”

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/12/no-joke-trump-can-win-plenty-of-latinos.html
    Reuben Navarette: No Joke: Trump Can Win Plenty of Latinos

    Gee, No wonder why I fall into the Proud Independent group.

  8. If Trump didn’t exist, why he would have been invented:

    https://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/illegal-immigration-finally-turned-off-public/?singlepage=true
    How Illegal Immigration Finally Turned Off the Public

    “Why did the illegal-immigration issue launch Donald Trump’s campaign? Why did his recent tense press conference exchange with Univision’s Jorge Ramos please even some of Trump’s liberal critics? What is it about illegal immigration that has finally turned off so many Americans?”

  9. Here’s a synopsis of what happens when the Immigration Code is NOT enforced:

    https://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-weirdness-of-illegal-immigration/
    The Weirdness of Illegal Immigration

    “….contemplate what happens in a social, cultural, and economic context when several million immigrants arrive from one of the poorest areas in the world (e.g., Oaxaca) to one of the most affluent (e.g., California). For guidance, think not of Jorge Ramos, but of the premodern/postmodern collision that is occurring in Germany, Austria, and Denmark.”

  10. The Liberal Case AGAINST Illegal Immigration:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/25/the-liberal-case-against-illegal-immigration.html

    This is the Progressive Case AGAINST Illegal Immigration:

    http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/the_1_percents_immigration_con_how_big_business_adds_to_income_inequality_pits_workers_against_each_other/

    http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/notes-on-immigration/
    The Conscience Of A Liberal–Paul Krugman

    “First, the benefits of immigration to the population already here are small.
    ” But as Mr. Hanson explains in his paper, reasonable calculations suggest that we’re talking about very small numbers, perhaps as little as 0.1 percent of GDP.

    “My second negative point is that immigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants. That’s just supply and demand…

    “Finally, the fiscal burden of low-wage immigrants is also pretty clear. “

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DEFDC1430F934A15750C0A9609C8B63

    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/immigrants-different-audacity-hope/2014/11/17/id/607937/
    Report: Obama’s Book Says Illegals Can Hurt Americans

    http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2014/11/didnt-anyone-in-the-hispanic-media-read-obamas-book-2936030.html
    Didn’t anyone in the Hispanic media read Obama’s book? Or listen to when he speaks?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idvRtDDPl_4
    Barack Obama in his own words from “The Audacity of Hope”
    – Illegal Immigration hurts Black Americans and Blue Collared Workers

    Video Not Working? I wonder why?!? Here’s an Audio Link:
    http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/16/shock-flashback-obama-says-illegal-immigration-hurts-blue-collar-americans-strains-welfare-video/

  11. http://www.trentonian.com/20160301/neese-immigration-unmentionables

    Gives one pause:

    “There he goes again, the blabbermouth nativist, Donald Trump, the wall-building xenophobe.

    “We have a massive poverty population coming into our country virtually every day from Mexico,” whines the guy who vows to build “a beautiful wall” along the southern border.

    Oops. Beg your pardon. Misread our notes. Those actually were the words of Walter Mondale, Democratic senator, Vice President, presidential candidate, Minnesota progressive, speaking in the early 1970s.”

    And, so on…..

  12. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/us/politics/hillary-clinton-is-not-my-abuela-critics-say.html?_r=0
    Hillary Clinton Is ‘Not My Abuela,’ Critics Say

    Here’s a list of recent past of Hillary’s hostilities towards Illegal Aliens:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/08/jeb-bush-and-hillary-clinton-accuse-each-other-of-flip-flopping-on-immigration-and-theyre-both-right/

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/11/how-hillary-clinton-and-bernie-sanders-used-to-talk-about-immigration-laws/#comment-10965399
    How Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Used to Talk About Immigration Laws

    http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-02-19/in-nevada-bernie-sanders-immigration-record-is-a-nightmare
    Bernie Is No Dream Candidate for Immigrants
    His record on immigration issues isn’t a good one.

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