LatinaLista — It used to be that when talk turned to political elections, the strength of the Latino vote always came into question.
A viable threat or wishful thinking?
Well, if the number of new citizenship applications is any indication, it may be the political dawn of the Latino voting bloc.
In a Los Angeles’ Times editorial yesterday, it was reported that citizenship applications have risen 61% nationwide from January through April — 103% in the Los Angeles region alone.
Couple that increase with the US-born children of these new citizens-to-be who are turning 18 and have every intention of voting against those politicians/party they feel targeted their padres, abuelos, tios, vecinos, amigos, etc. unfairly.
And it is not just Latinos poised as the swing vote — it’s also those who are sympathetic to the undocumented.
From employers, friends and activists to the classmates of undocumented students who see that their friends are denied the chance to either go to college or get a job after graduating, their votes added to the Latino voting bloc could mean real trouble to those politicians who still think the Latino threat is a figment of the imagination.
Well, to put things in perspective: the United States is home to the third largest group of Latinos/Hispanics after Mexico and Colombia, according to the US Census.
That’s a fact not to be discounted — any longer.
Comment(6)
Horace
Perhaps as many as one half of all Latinos are here illegally, so I wouldn’t count on their voting power when they are deported.
sir jorge
This was such a great post it made my “top 5” today.
Amanda
Horace, your estimate of as many as one half of all Latinos being here illegally is RIDICULOUS! That is all I have to say about that.
Honestly, I no longer view electoral politics as a way to effect any sort of meaningful change and I’m pretty sure that many of the native Latinos see it that way too. At least where I live, it is only the new immigrants who think that by becoming citizens and voting they can really make a difference. Of course it’s not that I discourage it, but I just feel like it’s too Utopian. Too many disappointments.
Horace
Ok Amanda, would you believe a third of all Latinos are illegal.
Our population consists of 14% Latinos or 42 million residents, including citizens and illegal aliens. A third would be 14 million. I play games with this because no one really knows how many illicit borders there are. Half seems as valid as one third for these invaders. How about a guess yourself, Amanda?
Brandy
I would hate to see how deportation would affect our economy.
Horace
We’d have to mow our own lawns, take care of our own kids, pay citizen manual laborers and hotel and service workers more money (supply vs. demand) and decide whether currently services cheap are really worth the money. Cheap labor allows inefficiencies to be introduced into society because having a few people sitting arround doing nothing as contingencies has little impact on the bottom line of profits, so we’d have to have to be more prudent in managing our productivity. There’s probably a lot of slop in our economy that would be removed if we became more concerned about productivity. In any case, we should never allow ourselves to be held hostage to those who hold allegiance to other nations. Underpaying people who live below the poverty level is indicative of a decadent society.
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