The recent anti-immigrant legislation in the US House of Representatives is a “national embarrassment” according to Hector Sanchez, chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), an organization of 39 national and regional Hispanic organizations that are committed to ensuring that Hispanic voices are heard in policy debates and the upcoming 2016 election. Sanchez was referencing H.R. 3009, the “Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act” which would bar states and local municipalities from receiving federal dollars if they fail to report the detained, undocumented immigrants. Sanchez says the blanket generalization of all immigrants as criminals, fueled by anti-immigrant rhetoric by people like Donald Trump who is currently leading GOP polls for the presidential nomination, “really is scapegoating all immigrants and in particular Latino immigrants.”
According to Sanchez, who in addition to his work as chairman of NHLA serves as executive director for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), proposals like these which seek to expand on enforcement-only policies which sews distrust in the Latino community only helps to alienate a key voting demographic for those pushing the measures. “It’s unacceptable that Republicans cannot come to the table to negotiate what is the best for the nation based on studies, everything shows the economic impact is so good if we have immigration reform, the cultural impact, the social impact — we all know the benefits of immigration reform,” said Sanchez
The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) plans to tap into the increasingly unified Latino community following the inflammatory remarks from Trump. The group has plans to equip Latinos to leverage their voting power to the fullest extent with voter education initiatives and voter registration drives.
“Most parties recognize that the Latino vote is the decisive element in a presidential election, and it keeps increasing year by year. We’re going to send them a strong message,” said Sanchez.
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