By Elvira Sánchez-Blake
If you belong to the group of Hispanics eligible to vote on November 5 in the U.S. elections, keep in mind that your vote may be the most important of your life, given the current state of the country. If you are still undecided or have doubts about your vote, let me give you some points to consider.
The decision is simple: you can vote for the Democratic party ticket to ensure a level of decency and the continuity of democracy, or you can choose to vote for Republican ticket, and I’ll guarantee that your life will take a turn for the worse.
It is indisputable that the most important point of
contention in the 2024 presidential elections has been immigration. The
Republican candidate has aggressively used this issue to demonize immigrants to
the point of dehumanizing them and stripping them of all their rights. When we
talk about immigrants, we are mainly talking about HISPANICS, who are viewed by
a large sector as “unfit” to enjoy U.S. citizenship. No matter the diversity of
origins, here Hispanics are seen as a homogeneous group.
The Republican candidate has promised that his first mandate will be to deport 11 million immigrants. This promise includes using the Army and the Police to go house to house to arrest supposed undocumented people living in the U.S. Part of the electoral promise includes creating detention centers, where the law will be enforced on the detained with methods of intimidation and coercion. If you remember what he managed to do as president, with family separations and centers where children and babies were held apart from their parents, can you imagine what awaits us in a new term where he will have free rein to carry out all his evil deeds, thanks to the immunity granted by the Supreme Court?
“Oh, but that doesn’t apply to me!”, you may say, because you have all documents in order and your main concern is the cost of milk and inflation rates. Let me tell you that YES, it includes you, your family, and everyone with a Latino profile, with mestizo skin, surnames like Sánchez, Rodríguez, López, no matter if your English is perfect. If you’re not convinced, I urge you to take the time to read PROJECT 2025 in its entirety and understand that what awaits us is not a bed of roses. Otherwise, what does it matter if the cost of milk and gasoline goes down if you, your family, or friends are going to be held in “detention centers,” deprived of all rights and in who knows what conditions? Even if you are not detained or deported, you will suffer the "PROFILING", arbitrary actions and abuses of those authorized to apply their racism, fueled by the xenophobic rhetoric of their leader.
To those suffering from short-term memory loss, I remind you that just four years ago, we lived through the nightmare of chaos, instability, lies, and ongoing scandals from an administration full of corruption, interference from other autocratic governments, and constant fear of a collapse or blunder, when the now-candidate showed us what he’s capable of—and more importantly, what he’s incapable of. Capable of inciting an insurrection with a horde of white supremacists manipulated by his rhetoric of hate and aggression; incapable of governing and complying with the constitution and the law.
That’s why I make a call for sanity to those Hispanics who want to live in a country of opportunities and fulfill the dream of growth, development, and achieving economic stability. The choice in these elections is clear: vote for the candidate who offers integrity, honesty, adherence to the constitution and laws, defense of democracy, and especially, a bit of decency.
