NBCNews
By Alexandra Jaffe
October 27, 2015
A coalition of Latino conservative activists warned the Republican presidential field on Tuesday to ditch Donald Trump's rhetoric on immigration, or they risk losing the election.
"Heed
our warning: don't expect us to come to your side during the general
election," said Rosario Marín, who served as Treasurer under former
President George W. Bush.
"If you are not with us now, we won't be with you then. If you insult
us now, we will be deaf to you then. If you take us for granted now, we
will not recognize you then."
Marín
was flanked by nearly two dozen other activists, small business owners
and elected officials who met earlier that day in Boulder as part of an
event organized by
the American Principles Project's Latino Partnership to discuss the
upcoming election. The group said they weren't endorsing any candidate,
but were unified in their opposition to one: Trump.
Although
other in the group named Trump, Marín refused to say his name and
instead decried the "nonstop vitriolic insults" from "a wannabe
politician."
"Foolishly,
some candidates think they don't need the Hispanic vote in the primary,
so they pander to the voters with extreme views instead of just showing
us who they
are," Marín added.
She
and others warned that Trump could not win the White House, and any
candidate that embraced his rhetoric or policies would inevitably lose
as well. Tony Suarez, National
Hispanic Christioan Leadership Conference executive vice president,
said Trump's candidacy "needs to be canceled like his last reality TV
program."
"Mr.
Trump has become a promoter of hate, division and insult and if Mr.
Trump were to be the Republican nominee - I don't think he has a chance
at winning the general
election," Suarez said.
The
group described themselves as "stalwarts in the Latino community,"
noting they've all been active on past presidential campaigns rallying
and turning out Latino voters.
They
threatened to withhold their support from candidates who are not more
receptive to the Latino community and who do not reject Trump's
rhetoric, but emphasized that
they're not unified in support of a particular policy platform.
Alfonso
Aguilar, director of the American Principles Project said, however, the
group does believe candidates who oppose birthright citizenship, and
those who focus just
on border security without offering other "constructive solutions" to
the immigration problem are in the wrong.
"If
Republicans cannot be constructive on the issues, Latino voters will
not listen to our candidates when they address other issues," he said.
There was some disagreement in the group on whether to also criticize Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, by name. Ultimately, the group.
Cristobal
Alex, president of the left leaning Latino Victory Project, said he was
"happy" the GOP Hispanics "were finally doing the bare minimum and
making it clear they
won't support Donald Trump for president."
But he said other candidates had also used inflammatory language and support policies similar to Trump's.
"Putting
your field on notice is great, but if conservatives really want to be
taken seriously by the Latino community they have to go beyond doing the
bare minimum to
condemn inflammatory rhetoric and start holding candidates accountable
even when it's not politically expedient," Alex said in a news release.
Coincidentally,
the GOP Hispanics held their meeting the same day Sioux City, Iowa
students, activists and residents held a silent protest in opposition to
Trump holding
a rally on the high school campus in their school district. The
protesters wanted the district to enforce its zero-tolerance
anti-bullying policy to keep Trump from holding the rally there.
The
coalition of GOP Hispanics plans to meet again in Nevada before the
next GOP debate to discuss whether the field has heeded its warning, and
at that time, Aguilar
warned, the group could "name more names" of candidates who are
anathema to their views.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment