“Deportation First”: Trump and Harris Compete for Latinx Votes While Pushing Anti-Immigrant Policies

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

With just 19 days until the presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are ramping up efforts to appeal to a major voting bloc in battleground states: Latinx voters. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris appeared at a town hall with Latinx voters in Las Vegas, Nevada, hosted by Univision last week. She took a question from Yvette Castillo.

YVETTE CASTILLO: And I’m an American citizen, born to two Mexican parents. They were here before I was even born. They have worked their whole lives. But with the way immigration laws change over time, I was only able to help my dad get his legal status squared away, but not my mom’s. My mom passed away just six weeks ago.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Oh, I’m so sorry.

YVETTE CASTILLO: And she was never, ever able to get the type of care and service that she needed or deserved. Sorry.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Take your time. Take your time.

YVETTE CASTILLO: So, my question for you is: What are your plans, or do you have plans, to support that subgroup of immigrants who have been here their whole lives, or most of them, and have to live and die in the shadows?

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: There are real people who are suffering because of an inability to put solutions in front of politics. I mean, an example of this on immigration policy is that as it relates to what we need to do to strengthen our border.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Republican candidate Donald Trump will take the stage with Latinx voters tonight in Miami at a town hall also hosted by Univision.

For more, we go to Austin, Texas. We’re joined by Marisa Franco, director and co-founder of Mijente, a national organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities.

Welcome back to Democracy Now! We had you on at the Democratic convention in Chicago, Marisa. I wanted to get first your response to Kamala Harris. What she responded to this very emotional plea was the support of the Biden administration for the bill that militarizes the border further. Your response to the Democratic and Republican approach to how to deal with the immigration crisis in this country?

MARISA FRANCO: Hey there. Thanks for having me.

That story is heartbreaking. And it’s a story that many, many people experience in this country. We are now close to 40 years since the last legalization in this country. Vice President Harris’s response is insufficient. The woman was not talking about the border. She was talking about the fact that her mother lived in this country, contributed to this country and was part of her community and was her mother, and could not get the care she needed and had no recourse. And all around, we’ve seen — and she mentioned she was able to adjust the status for her father but wasn’t able for her mom.

There has been, unfortunately, immigration reform in this country. It has been deportation first and building a huge infrastructure to survey, to identify and detain folks. And that includes at the border. What we’re seeing at the border is horrible. The border bill was not going to be a solution, and it will not be a solution for Vice President Harris to mimic Donald Trump’s policies on immigration. In fact, she has to contrast.

I think Latinos, by and large, even when they say immigration or border security is an issue for them, it’s a much more nuanced view. I think people want a fair shake, and they’re seeing that — I think what’s happening is that folks are generally — this is not just an issue in the Latino community, but generally. Working-class people are — the math isn’t mathing. Whether it’s their wages, whether it’s their job conditions or the cost of living, you know, just trying to make it, people are barely keeping their heads above water.

And what Donald Trump has presented is “Who’s at fault?” And instead of it being the billionaire class, instead of it being corporations not paying their fair share, he’s blaming the easiest people to blame, which has been done time immemorial in this country, which is blame immigrants, blame the other.

Kamala Harris is not contrasting that sufficiently enough. And she didn’t answer that woman’s question. And I think the question remains: What will happen to folks who have been living, working and part of our community in this country who have no real recourse to be able to adjust their status in this country?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to ask you, Marisa: What’s your sense of the enthusiasm for voting? Clearly, in 2020, there was a huge surge of Latino voters in the last election. But there are key states. A lot of people focus on Arizona, but I also keep reminding people that there’s a million Latinos who live in the state of Pennsylvania, perhaps the biggest —

MARISA FRANCO: Yes.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — battleground state. What is your sense of the enthusiasm among Latinx voters in terms of this election?

MARISA FRANCO: I think Harris-Walz will win the majority of Latino voters in this election. That, to me, is very clear. At the same time, it’s never been Trump’s goal to win the majority of Latino voters. He just has to win enough of a sliver of it. And I do think there are real cracks.

And I don’t know that the right question is, like: Is Harris doing enough? Is the Harris campaign doing enough? I think that, in many ways, that campaign is behind the eight ball in terms of what the Democratic Party has done over the last many, many years in terms of their posture not just to Latinos, but to Black Americans, to working-class people broadly in this country.

I think the enthusiasm is — you know, I think there was a surge after Biden stepped out and she came in. And I think it’s leveled out. And I think it’s the economy that’s really, really hurting, and the fact that Biden is not popular and she’s not contrasting herself enough. And so, in those states where it’s going to be very, very close, I am somewhat concerned that there’s not going to be enough of a margin, because I think that there’s — you know, I think a lot of people don’t know exactly what her plan is, or the plans that are being put out are not really capturing folks’ imagination or interest. So, I think it’s going to be very close, and I don’t know that there’s huge enthusiasm, I would say, in the community right now.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Marisa Franco, would you say that the corporate media is accurate in saying that there is a rightward shift within segments of the Latinx community? We have 30 seconds.

MARISA FRANCO: No, absolutely not. I think what Latinos are doing is declaring their political independence from partisan politics. I think that Latinos are looking to see who is going to deliver. I think even if Harris’s message is resonating, even if they reject Trump’s values and the way he acts, which many do, they fundamentally don’t believe that the Democrats will deliver.

And that is something that’s at the doorstep of the Democratic Party and them deciding: Are they truly the class of the working people in this country, or are they the class of the sort of upper-middle, upper, like, corporate sections, like, liberal but still corporate? And I think that’s what Latinos are questioning. I don’t think that they’re going to the right. They’re looking to see who actually cares about them and is going to actually deliver.

AMY GOODMAN: Marisa Franco, I want to thank you for being with us, head of Mijente. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Thanks for joining us.