'Do they just not care?' Miami immigrants troubled by surge of Latino support for Trump

[Demovictory9]

Although she is a U.S. citizen, Mariana Martinez counts many undocumented immigrants and TPS holders among the ranks of her Salvadoran family members. Trump’s popularity with Miami-Dade’s Latinos isn’t something she was shocked by: in the lead-up to the election, she saw more Trump signs popping up in Cutler Bay, where she lives, and in Homestead, where her work as an immigrant rights advocate with the American Friends Service Committee often takes her. But lack of surprise doesn’t mean lack of disappointment.

“I guess it’s like, ‘What happened?’ I’m honestly still trying to figure out what went down. But it’s really disheartening, how a lot of people voted against their communities, because I can name a couple of folks whose families are also mixed-status, and they still voted for Trump,” she said.



“It’s a big disconnect. In Miami-Dade, everybody knows someone who is undocumented. [So] why would you vote for someone that’s not trying to give members of your community status? … Do they just not care?”’

-------------

Stark differences in Biden and Trump’s immigration platforms has made the swell of Latino support for the president in South Florida difficult to process.

“It leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” said Montenegro. “It feels a bit like betrayal.”

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In Miami, some non-voting immigrants say that indifference towards immigration matters is something they’ve run up against, and have been frustrated by, even among close friends and family members.

“It’s really sad. It really hurts me … I don’t even want to ask my family who they voted for because I don’t want to hear it, I couldn’t take it,” said Ramirez, the DACA recipient from Colombia. “But there is a family member who was saying, ‘Yeah, I’m voting for Trump.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, are you sure? That’s your vote? For someone who wants to send me home?’ And that person was like, ‘Yeah.’”

-------


“The message that Biden is a socialist was really effective,” Hernandez said. “I don’t understand why people closed their eyes and let themselves be fooled. It’s frustrating.”

---------

“The [anti-socialism] propaganda was everywhere and the Democratic Party did nothing to set the record straight,” Hernandez said. “The support was lacking. It was really lacking. They need to put in the work ahead of time and help educate voters … They didn’t run a good campaign in Florida” in 2020.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article247278394.html

[samnsara]

1. I'm an old white lady but i worked with immigrant families for years..

..its the 'machismo' factor. The young Hispanic males in the families I worked with it were drawn to it...according to their fearful mothers.
A clear understanding of Politics are not involved.

[Lonestarblue]

9. I just do not get the machismo factor or the tough guy image for Trump.

He is a whiny old guy who can’t stand up straight, never takes responsibility for anything (as real mend do), and constantly plays the victim. It must be the mean SOB that they like.

[judesedit]

12. He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Maybe it was the

grabbing women by the pussy they liked. Unfortunately, it was some lie they believed. ???? Crazy. The proof of Dumpy's sleaziness is everywhere.

[Turin_C3PO]

15. Still,

besides Cuban-Americans, the majority of Hispanics supported Biden. Here in New Mexico we definitely have the machismo factor but about 68% still voted Biden. Trumpism among Hispanics is a problem mostly confined to South Florida and southern Texas, from the data I’ve seen.

[tavernier]

2. I totally agree.

I live here, and except for the national news, you wouldn’t have even known that a democrat was running for president. I made calls to our party and volunteered my time, my car, my energy to distribute signs, wave flags on street corners, and was turned away. “Make phone calls” I was told. People don’t answer unknown callers anymore these days, and texts preach to the choir. Meanwhile trump billboards littered the countryside and trumpers sold flags on street corners by the dozens. It looked like a damn carnival, and people who don’t follow the facts thought it was a fun way to play, a hopeful return to the days before the pandemic.And as I predicted, the fun party with all the colorful toys attracted the crowds to their side.

Thankfully other states were better prepared and organized.

As far as the Latino support, or lack of, I don’t understand it either. I live in the upper Keys, surrounded by a Latino community, and as far as I could see, they were heavily pro trump. I know there is still a great deal of Cuban animosity toward the Democratic Party, but I too wonder about their loyalties to other Latinos from neighboring countries and islands. There seems to be a very “I got mine” attitude amongst the community here, so I assume that there is not much harmony amongst some of the other Latino nations. But then again I’m only looking in as an outsider so my opinion only comes from the people I interact with daily.

[dsc]

7. why should we expect those Republicans to be any different from other Republicans

I got mine fuck you is the motto of the GOP. Cubans can mow down a bus load of nuns and still not be deported so why would they care about other immigrants.

[judesedit]

13. The thugs play to the immature and less bright with their bright colors,

shiny baubels, lots of guns and loud mouths repeating lies over and over. The dems need to learn from it.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The "problem" (issue) is

that "Hispanic" is a language group representative of many countries and ethnic groups that happen to speak Spanish as an "official", native, or common language. They are from all over the world (including places as far flung as the Philippines, which had been a party to the agreements related to the Spanish-American War, having been a colony of Spain).

And because these groups have been treated differently with respect to immigration policy here, then those not negatively impacted are not prone to empathize with others. The analogy would be lumping together people who are "English-speakers" (e.g., U.S., Canada, U.K., Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, South Africa, Liberia, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) and assuming that they are monolithic.

In the case of Florida, the targeting is difficult when you have a mix of Caribbean, South American, Meso American, and even Europeans (Spaniards). They may share some of the cultural overlays (music, food choices, religions, etc.) that were introduced by Spain centuries ago, but that is where the commonality ends outside of a shared language.

[Turin_C3PO]

16. Even the food and music is different among different Hispanic groups.

The only similarities I see are language and religion. I’m not really sure it’s accurate to describe them as a single ethnicity, to be honest. For instance, Guatemalans and Spaniards would both be considered “Hispanic” but are a very different people and culture.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. I didn't argue that they were the same ethnicity

Unless you are just generally speaking about the OP...?

What I wrote -

"Hispanic" is a language group representative of many countries and ethnic groups that happen to speak Spanish as an "official", native, or common language.

The foods will not be completely identical because people use what ingredients are readily available where they live but they have many "variations on a theme", as you will see something like "paella" all across the Latin world!

[Turin_C3PO]

20. Sorry I wasn't clear!

I was speaking generally on the topic.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Okay

The arguments demanding that "Democrats need to/should have/better go in there and..." shows a complete lack of awareness and knowledge about the descendants of the many many Spanish-speaking nations, and can result in a quagmire of pandering.

There is a large contingent of Puerto Ricans who recently moved to Florida and other states on the east coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, so the dynamic and demographics keeps shifting. And if you want to attempt to "lobby" one group, then doing so would need to be done with the realization that a different group may have natural/historic disagreements with the group you are reaching out to.

A Dominican will have different needs versus someone from Bolivia. So it's not a matter of "Well go talk to the 'Latinx' community", as if they are a monolith.

[Vivienne235729]

4. I read somewhere Latino women went resoundingly for Biden.

It was Latino men that broke for trump. They accounted that to the "machismo" and sexism in that population. Either way, it is incredibly disappointing. It highlights the work we have to do in that community for the next election cycle.

[Celerity]

18. 59% of Latino men voted Democratic; 36% voted Republican. 69% of Latinas voted Democratic,

and 30% voted Republican.


Misinformation targeted Latino voters in the 2020 election

Misleading memes and videos went viral in some Latino communities.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/latino-voters-misinformation-targets-election-2020/story?id=74189342

As part of her work as a volunteer with Cubanos con Biden in Miami, JennyLee Molina managed several social media groups dedicated to debunking political memes, pictures and videos that were circulating among Latinos in South Florida, a task made even more daunting by the sheer quantity of content shared weeks leading up to the election. "We dealt with hundreds of items a day," said Molina, who also works in digital communications with Joe Biden for President. "It was like swimming against a tide because every time we got one strong piece of information out there, there would be 10 more things even more outrageous to deal with. It was like whack-a-mole." Advocacy groups have voiced concerns over the "alarming" amount of misinformation targeted to Latino communities prior to the election, though it's unclear to what extent misinformation may have influenced Latino voters. What the election outcome has demonstrated -- and what Latinos and advocates have been saying for years -- is that the Latino vote is powerful and complex.

While nationally, the majority may lean Democratic, when it comes to the state level, there are many different constituencies that cannot be so easily counted on by Democrats or Republicans. There were about 32 million Latinos eligible to vote in the 2020 election. According to ABC News' exit polls, 59% of Latino men voted Democrat; 36% voted Republican. Sixty-nine percent of Latinas voted Democrat and 30% voted Republican. Republicans made some gains with Latino voters since the 2016 election, particularly in South Florida and border communities in Texas, the Washington Post reported. Biden, however, made gains in other states, helped by a record number of Latino voters who cast early votes in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to Voto Latino. ABC News interviewed disinformation experts, campaign workers, and advocates on both sides of the political spectrum to get a sense of what factors were at play in the minds of Latino voters across the country this year.

The most overarching and effective disinformation narrative, according to Jaime Longoria, an investigative researcher with First Draft News, was an effort to play on what he called an "anti-Blackness" tactic -- a part of the push of disinformation to Latino voters, particularly in Florida. Longoria said videos of confrontations shared on WhatsApp and Facebook pushed the notion that Black people were "harassing" Latinos under the guise of activism. He said much of this content played to prejudices. "A lot of folks don't have the nuance to understand that there are black and indigenous people in Latinx communities." He cited an example of a video shared on Facebook last month, appearing to show two Black women flipping a table and chairs being used by a Latino family to celebrate a party. The video went viral with a title labelling the women as members of Black Lives Matter. Despite being flagged with a fact-check tag on Facebook noting that the women were not affiliated with Black Lives Matter, the video has been shared nearly 180,000 times on that platform alone.

Longoria said misleading videos attach to people's conscious and unconscious biases. "You take advantage of harboured anti-Blackness and people are quick to jump on things which reinforce their own prejudices," he said. "[The misinformation content] was never blatant racism, it was a little more nuanced." Meghna Mahadevan, the chief disinformation dissent strategist with United We Dream, a youth-led immigrant organization, said anti-Blackness is an effective manipulation strategy, pitting communities against each other. She said the tactic "uplifts racism," allows people to "create scapegoats" and "preyed on feelings of racial hierarchy that already exist in communities." "It creates different racial hierarchies because at the end of the day, whiteness and being a person of color are very different, but by building anti-Blackness in the Latinx community, it creates a ladder of supremacy and uses race to create more separation, particularly with Black Lives Matter," she said.

snip

[sop]

5. Spanish language media in South Florida is responsible for these attitudes.

Spanish language media in Miami - print, radio and television - has been dominated by wealthy, ultra-rightwing "anti-Castristas," a politically and economically powerful bunch who will tolerate no opposing views on the evils of "la revolucion cubana," or Castro's progressive influence in certain Latin American countries. Some left-leaning writers and commentators have attempted to present a more balanced version of the Cuban situation within Miami's spanish language community, but they have always been loudly shouted down by the anti-Castristas, typically accused of being "communists," or even worse.

For decades saying anything remotely positive about Castro's social policies, or even advocating re-establishing normal relations with the current Cuban government, within Miami's insular cuban-american community has been akin to praising Hitler and the Nazis in Jewish communities. Obama's three-day visit to Cuba in 2016, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, his attempts to lift the Cuban embargo and efforts to normalize relations with Havana, and his refusal to take a more militant stance on Venezuela, did not go over well in South Florida.

[Roy Rolling]

6. Divide and Conquer

Trump splits a group to weaken it. Now, some Latinos will do his dirty work for him.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. I think it's all about private enterprise and casino capitalism in the Carribbean

jobs, because the community and business leaders repossess their properties from Cuba.

[3Hotdogs]

10. Why don't they get that Republicans hate their asses.

[Native]

11. DU members who posted articles calling for the Biden campaign to step it up in south FL

were criticized by other DUers for being negative.

[FSogol]

14. It's the Evangelical churches. Latinos have been joining them at an astonishing rate.

Those Churches preach RW politics and conspiracy theories 24/7.

[hunter]

28. I see this in California.

I think many financially successful immigrants, and children of immigrants, are attracted to the right wing prosperity theology Protestant churches.

They no longer feel comfortable in churches that preach it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23–26), or in churches where they are surrounded by recent immigrants who are still struggling.

Racism also plays a large role. Being Protestant in the U.S.A. somehow makes you more "white," especially if you happen to look the part.

Some of my own ancestors, although very white, claimed to be Protestant for similar reasons. They lived in communities where people who were not the local Protestant flavor were discriminated against.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Was there a special dispensation for all those Cuban immigrants who came to Florida without

proper papers back in the sixties-seventies?

[BumRushDaShow]

21. That policy was in place until Obama ended it in his final week of office in 2017

End Of 'Wet-Foot, Dry-Foot' Means Cubans Can Join Ranks Of 'Undocumented'

January 15, 2017 7:07 AM ET
Adrian Florido


There's a popular saying in Spanish — O todos en la cama, o todos en el suelo. It conveys a selfless commitment to equal treatment, and translates roughly like this: Either we all get the bed, or we all get the floor. Among many immigrants in the U.S., there's been a feeling that when it comes to the spoils of U.S. immigration policy, the government has given Cubans the bed all to themselves, while it has relegated others — Mexicans, Haitians, Central Americans — to the floor. This is because of the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, which since 1995 has granted Cubans who touch American soil a privilege not afforded other immigrants who come without a visa: the right to stay and get on a fast track to citizenship.

This special treatment ended this week when, in the final days of his administration, President Obama announced an abrupt end to the policy, a capstone to his two-year-old effort to re-establish relations with Cuba. Effective immediately, Cubans arriving on U.S. soil without a visa will be treated just like any other immigrant. They will be turned away. This does not mean Cubans will stop coming. "What it means," said Florida International University political scientist Eduardo Gamarra, "is that for the first time, we're going to have undocumented Cubans. And how the Cuban community responds to that is going to be very interesting."

For decades, Cubans have occupied a rarefied station, particularly among the Latino population of the United States. Because those arriving in the U.S. after Fidel Castro's ascension in 1959 were seen as fleeing political persecution, the U.S. generally allowed them to stay. In 1966, Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allowed Cubans to get green cards after being in the U.S. for two years, later reduced to a single year.

Though the Cuban government opposed these policies, they were the status quo until 1994, when the U.S. agreed to amend the rules. Wet-foot, dry-foot allowed only those Cubans who made it to U.S. soil to stay. Those caught at sea were to be turned away. The stated hope was that the threat of getting repelled would discourage Cubans from risking their lives on rickety boats. But they kept coming, and once here, a green card was pretty much ensured.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/01/15/509895837/end-of-wet-foot-dry-foot-means-cubans-can-join-ranks-of-the-undocumented

[Baitball Blogger]

22. The Democrat's biggest problem is that they don't inform and educate people to the purpose

and benefits of their programs. Surely, Cuban Americans had a double benefit in the fact that this policy was not well known outside of their circle.

I agree with you. Latin Americans are not treated equally. Funny how they broad-brush us when it's convenient.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. As a note

there is a racial component and overlay here that is unspoken, where many of the Baptista-descended Cubans considered themselves "white".

So as long as one is part of a group that Americans (in general) consider "people of color", but who do NOT consider themselves that... it may require waiting for the hammer to eventually come down on them for them to realize that they can easily lose their "honorary white" status at any time, at the bat of an eye.

Until many of these folks finally "get" what is defined as "white supremacy" and how THEY are not part of it, we will always have trouble reaching out to some of these groups. This applies to many who come from South American countries like Argentina, or Chile, etc.

Although the explicit laws were thrown out long ago, the implicit "one drop" rule still goes on behind the decisions by those who wield power.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Glad you described it. Though i was aware of it.

I had a Puerto Rican and Cuban American friend in college. They were roommates and they loved to rehash the old infighting issues.

Also, I dated a Cuban American. One thing that was apparent early on in the relationship, there wasn't a Cuban immigrant alive who didn't leave behind vast land holdings and a burgeoning commercial enterprise.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. I grew up with the children of (black) Cuban immigrants

they lived in a huge house a few blocks from us and had opened a small motel business in the area. The youngest was best friends with my younger sister for years.

Philly's largest Hispanic group are Puerto Ricans and with us being close to what is considered "The Mushroom Capital of the World", located in Delaware and Chester Counties, PA, there are quite a few Mexicans in the area now. This is in addition to many Guatemalans who have been tapped to work in both the landscaping and home renovation businesses.

There is a "color line" (something that W.E.B. Dubois always talked about with respect to the U.S. black population) and that extends through all of those Hispanic countries, as it was introduced by the European colonizers and has persisted to this day.



That term was used in Dubois' book, "The Souls of Black Folk", which resurrected and gave a nod to a concept that was the title and theme of an earlier speech given by Frederick Douglass some 20 years prior in 1183, entitled "The Color Line".

So there are many shared but sometimes painful relationships that are going on in those communities, both within, and across them.

[Baitball Blogger]

27. +1