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Seven years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would bring the DREAM Act to a vote. Weeks before, his pollster warned that the move could cost him re-election, with white independents deserting him and not enough Hispanic voters turning out to compensate for the loss.
Reid moved forward with the DREAM Act regardless.
Today, terror is ripping through Hispanic communities as President Donald Trump deports DREAMers and mothers with no criminal records. But despite the presence of a Hispanic caucus in the Nevada Assembly — unlike in 2010, when there were only two Latino legislators in Carson City — no one is stepping forward to defend immigrants like Reid did then, with the exception of Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-Las Vegas.
As Trump tears up families that include American citizens, we have seen more action from non-Hispanic officials around the country than from Latino electeds. In Miami-Dade County, Fla., only a day after Trump threatened sanctuary cities, the Hispanic mayor, and later the Latino-majority commission, bowed before Trump’s deportation orders. In Seattle and Birmingham, Ala. — yes, in Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ own home state — non-Hispanic politicians stepped up to defend immigrants.
Last month, a federal judge provided strong legal arguments against Trump’s xenophobic agenda in siding with a challenge from the city of San Francisco and Santa Clara County against Trump’s immigration order.
In Nevada, Cancela’s bill would have protected undocumented families, most of whom have lived and worked here for decades. The blame game in Carson City fell on Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford for scuttling the bill. But why would Ford stick out his political neck when Latino lawmakers wouldn’t make a strong public stand with Cancela?
Some might say the Nevada Hispanic caucus was looking at the long-term politics of the issue. I no longer speak for Sen. Reid, but after his experience in 2010, and pushing the Obama administration to protect DREAMers in 2012, I bet he would beg to differ. Latino voters turned out when they were given a reason, when they saw a champion.
The Nevada legislators, many of whom I know and otherwise respect, seem to have already forgotten what happened in 2014. That year, Latinos stayed home after the House of Representatives killed an immigration bill and President Obama dragged his feet on deportation protections for the families of American citizens. Do Nevada’s Hispanic officials want to repeat the 2014 Republican sweep?
For the next two years, Washington will only inflict pain on our friends, neighbors and relatives. It will be up to state and local governments to step up, like San Francisco’s.
Maybe the Hispanic caucus should ask Harry Reid and Yvanna Cancela what “defending” means.
José Dante Parra served on Sen. Harry Reid’s campaign team in 2010. He currently heads strategic consulting firm ProsperoLatino.
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