This Hispanic Heritage Month, who is fighting for us?

I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants who came to the U.S. after my dad was recruited to work in the mines in Southern New Mexico in the 1960s. As the youngest of ten, growing up in the rural town of Lordsburg, NM, my proud Mexican parents instilled in us the values of hard work, an honest living, and the importance of creating community.

My siblings and I went on to have successful careers in legal, education, and health care fields, realizing the American Dream of safety, stability, and success. This is what so many Latinos grow up learning, and it encouraged me to pursue higher education, obtaining a bachelor's degree along with a law degree.

Throughout my career, I’ve experienced many challenges that I know I share with my fellow Latinas. I saw first hand the difficulties that marginalized communities face and the demoralizing effect of being under or misrepresented. I decided to dedicate my adult life to fighting against injustice, increasing Latino and Latina representation in our politics, and ensuring that Latinos were seen and heard.

That is why I am so concerned about the terrifying Project 2025 agenda that Donald Trump and JD Vance are pushing on the American people. It is a threat to our daily lives and the future for all Latinos in America. Project 2025 stands to undo all of the progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made regarding access to education, like walking back on student loan forgiveness, defunding and stripping resources from Hispanic Serving Institutions, and eliminating vital programs like Head Start that have significant impacts on young Latino students. Trump continues to show us that he does not care about our community and has no interest in seeing us succeed.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has proven time and time again that they will fight for our rights. Throughout the Biden-Harris administration, we saw major advancements: Latino unemployment rates reached historic lows, our small businesses are growing at accelerated rates, the cost of insulin capped at $35 for seniors, and hundreds of thousands of Latinos saw their student debt eliminated.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, it is crucial that we ask ourselves the question, who is fighting for us? Because the truth is that only Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz have a plan to improve our lives.

The choice is clear this November. In Vice President Harris, we have a woman who is determined to put her plans to action, leading us on a new way forward to an opportunity economy for all Latinos. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has told the American people that all he has to offer us are “concepts of a plan” and has tried to hide from his Project 2025 agenda. His agenda calls for immigrants to be held in massive detention camps, the elimination of DACA, and restricting the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

It is more important than ever that the members of our community are able to vote and make their voices heard. This is personal. The attacks that Trump and JD Vance have launched against our community threaten the lives of our family and friends. The man that poses the biggest threat to us is a power-hungry man who will pounce at any opportunity to become a dictator. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage month, it is crucial that we make our voices heard by getting registered and voting this November. Your vote is your voice, we must do this to protect our communities.

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