Republicans ignore young Hispanics like me at their own political peril

My parents, immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala, came to this country in the 1980s, hoping to give their future children a better life. Back then, they never would have guessed that their college-aged son would one day become a proud member of the Republican party, interning for former Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and serving as an intern in the District office of

Florida Senator Marco Rubio. And yet the pride I have long felt in serving my party’s values of faith, personal liberty and economic deregulation has now been eviscerated by President Trump.

As Super Tuesday approaches, Republicans continue to fall behind the madman-inchief, a leader whose xenophobia offends me, not just as the son of immigrants, but as an American and a Christian.

I am not alone. The Republican Party is losing young people in droves. According to Pew, nearly a quarter of Millennial Republican voters left the G.O.P after Trump’s election. Between 2015 and 2017, about half of individuals under 30 who identified as Republican or consistently leaned Republican left the party. Last summer, I also left the G.O.P. and registered as an Independent.

This matters, because young people — and especially Hispanic voters like me — are poised to play a crucial role this primary season and in the general election. One fifth of Millennials identified as Latinx in 2017. We’ve been called apathetic, but evidence suggests otherwise. Registered Latinos vote in high numbers — between 80-83 percent in presidential elections, according to new research from New American Economy and Unidos. And young Hispanics are registering at increasingly high rates. A new analysis by Voto Latino found 295.1 percent growth in new registrations from Hispanic voters between 2014 and 2018. Ninety percent of this growth was in swing states, including Florida, and young Latinos like me comprised more than half of new registrants.

Critics also devalue the Latino vote, claiming we’re fractured. But that’s not true for my generation. Eight-two percent of Hispanic Millennials overwhelmingly reject President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, according to a nationally representative survey by GenForward. Specifically, 88 percent of us support a path to citizenship for Dreamers.

We find it outrageous that last fall, only seven House Republicans broke ranks with their party to vote in favor of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019. The bill envisioned a pathway to citizenship to 2.5 million Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. It was neither bold nor politically risky; it fell far short of the comprehensive immigration reform we desperately need. And yet those Republicans were held up as heroes by the left. It makes little sense, especially since 74 percent of all Americans, older and millennial alike, want a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

I’m also not alone in my horror at Trump’s new refugee quota: just 18,000 people this year, as opposed to the 110,000 the Obama administration admitted in 2016. Our country, long a place of refuge and hope, is no longer a safe haven for those in need.

As the Reverend John L. McCullough, who serves as president of Church World Service, recently said, with one final blow, Trump “snuffed out Lady Liberty’s torch and ended our nation’s legacy of compassion and welcome.” Millennials agree: 73% of respondents to a recent World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Survey said they welcome refugees.

Finally, it’s no secret that my generation is angry about our country’s growing income inequality. Our acute sense of fairness flies in the face of Trump’s new public charge rule, which denies green cards to immigrants who access even a small amount of public benefits. That’s especially galling, since many immigrants who need public assistance work jobs in healthcare and the service industry that are crucial to the economy but don’t pay a living wage. We want a President who values the American dream; instead we have a leader committed to destroying it.

As a former young Republican, I’ve watched Congressional conservatives act with cowardice, kowtowing to Donald Trump and advisors like Stephen Miller, an alleged white nationalist who hates immigrants. I barely recognize my party. It’s sad, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If the GOP can change — and embrace change — they could earn back my support. But this means listening to the proud, proactive and increasingly diverse voices of young Americans and especially young Hispanics. Nearly one million of us turn 18 every year, according to NAE. If the white and aging GOP refuses to hear us, they won’t be relevant for long.