The Hill
By Jesse Byrnes
October 28, 2015
Donald
Trump is taking heat from Hispanic conservative activists ahead of his
appearance at the third Republican presidential debate Wednesday.
The
celebrity real estate tycoon has been atop polls for the GOP nomination
for three months, despite a summer laden with controversy over his
remarks on immigrants.
Some
Hispanic groups who are supportive of Republicans are now openly
blasting the businessman, and putting other candidates on notice to stay
away from his rhetoric.
"We
believe that if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, none of us will
support him, none of us will help him engage the Hispanic community,"
Alfonso Aguilar, director of
American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership, told The Hill ahead
of the debate.
"We are ostracizing him," he added.
Aguilar
and leaders from several other Hispanic conservative groups met
privately Tuesday afternoon in Boulder, the site of the debate, to
discuss Trump's positions on
immigration.
“Heed
our warning: Don’t expect us to come to your side during the general
election. If you are not with us now, we will not be with you then,"
former Treasury Secretary
Rosario Marin, an official in the George W. Bush administration, said
during a press conference Tuesday.
Ending
birthright citizenship and discussing a mass deportation of the around
12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. were key issues where
Trump has failed, Aguilar
said.
The
groups stopped short of naming other candidates with similar positions
to Trump, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has largely embraced
Trump during the 2016 campaign.
"We
are concerned. We're more than concerned — we're angry with the
rhetoric and tone some candidates are using," Aguilar said, alluding to
other GOP candidates besides
Trump.
The groups acknowledge that party officials may not like them going after a front-runner.
"They're afraid, and that's fine," Aguilar said.
Other
groups present Tuesday included the Hispanic Leadership Fund and the
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, among others.
Organizers
acknowledged the importance of raising the issue in Colorado, a state
with a growing Hispanic population the GOP hopes to put into play again
in 2016.
Barack
Obama won Colorado twice, in 2008 against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
and in 2012 against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
The
coalition will hold its next meeting Dec. 14, on the eve of the final
GOP debate of the year in Las Vegas, where they may call out other
candidates for their positions
on immigration.
"We are going to continue monitoring what they are saying," Aguilar said of the candidates
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment