The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of over 46 national Latino organizations, gathered on Wednesday to assess the Trump administration’s early impact on Latino issues. NHLA released its report, First 100 Days: Analysis of the Trump Administration’s early impact on Latino Priorities, and struggled to identify, even one area, where the administration has made progress for the Latino community.
“President Trump has pursued an extreme agenda of policies and federal spending aimed at reducing access to healthcare, targeting undocumented immigrants, exacerbating environmental harm in vulnerable communities and drastically slashing federal funding for domestic programs that help improve people’s quality of life,” said members of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.
Coalition member Thomas Sáenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) believes the White House has felt emboldened to “attack” the Latino community because Congress has largely stayed silent. Helen Aguirre Ferré, White House Director of Media Affairs says it is unfair to characterize Trump’s early months as detrimental to the Latino community or any other group.
“In these first 100 days in office, President Trump has been working on creating policies that will benefit all American families especially with regard to job creation, school choice, religious liberty and national security which is also of great concern to Hispanic Americans,” said Aguirre Ferré to NBC Latino.
NHLA is a non-partisan organization and has previously had the opportunity to meet with administrations on both sides of the aisle. Although NHLA indicates they have not been able to meet with the Trump administration to discuss Latino priorities and agenda, they maintain that they continue to engage until their voices are heard.
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