What Chicago stands to lose as Trump slams Latinos
This op-ed was originally published in Crain's Chicago Business. See full article here.
After Donald Trump's much touted immigration speech last month—the one many anticipated would signal a softening of his immigration stances in order to attract Latino voters—I was left even more puzzled than before about his true intentions.
Trump's rhetoric was softened from prior to his visit to Mexico, but the underly
ing racism was still dripping from his speech. As his followers chanted their support, the Republican nominee went down a list of victims of violent crimes perpetrated by undocumented immigrants from south of our border. While these were terrible crimes, he chose not to highlight any of the contributions made to our society by immigrants.
This was Trump's attempt to appeal to Latinos? It seemed like more of the same.
What we should be asking is this: What's already been lost? What has been lost because of the damage his campaign has caused by the demagoguery and vitriolic lies about a cross-section of this nation's Latino community? And what is the ripple effect of an increase in hate crimes and open racism and nativism?
Did he really believe that sitting down with the unpopular president of Mexico would win him votes?
Trump has maintained his promise to build a wall to keep Mexicans out, although who's paying for it seems sketchy at best. He continues asserting that millions of Mexican nationals are crossing the border every day, but his claims are not based on facts. The Pew Research Center released a study recently showing there was actually a net loss of 140,000 Mexican nationals moving into the U.S. between 2009 and 2014. More Mexican nationals and their families returned to Mexico from the U.S. than entered. But those facts don't win over Trump's voters.
Undocumented immigrants pay taxes and contribute to the vitality of our nation. According to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, as of 2013, undocumented immigrants contributed an estimated $11.64 billion in state and local taxes nationally; $743 million in Illinois alone.
The facts reinforce the Latino Policy Forum's vision that Latinos and immigrants are contributing members of society and their influence is growing. The forum's own analysis revealed that, between 2000 and 2013, U.S. born Latinos accounted three of every four new entrants into the labor force overall. And currently in Illinois, there are about 370,000 immigrants who are eligible to become U.S. citizens. In addition, Latinos have been responsible for Chicago's growth at a time when our city is expected to fall behind Houston in overall population. And in Illinois, between 2000 and 2014, 87 percent of Latino population growth has been due to U.S.-born Latinos, while the number of non-citizen residents fell by about 400 (518,429 to 518,012), according to U.S. Census figures.
The number of eligible Latino voters (U.S. citizens 18 and older) is projected to be 27.3 million in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. In 2016, it's estimated Latino voters will account for 10 percent of Illinois' electorate, which is based on average growth per year and is not reflective of the potential size of a Latino voter bloc due to the significant number who have yet to register.
I believe the Latino voter turnout for this election will be the highest ever in our state's and nation's history because of the many of us who have been insulted by Trump's attacks
.