Latino lives don’t matter, but they could

I’ve lived in Arizona for over 30 years, and for over 30 years well- meaning newspaper writers, well- educated political scientists and well- connected civil rights activists have predicted that Latinos are about to become the dominant voting bloc in Arizona.

And for over 30 years well- set politicians — just about all of them Republicans — have ignored these predictions. And they have been correct. Latino voters could become the dominant voting bloc in Arizona.

Latino voters should become the dominant voting bloc in Arizona.

But Latino voters are not the dominant voting bloc in Arizona.

In fact, Latinos do not matter. At all.

If Latinos mattered, would there have been a Sheriff Joe Arpaio for the past 23 years?

If Latinos mattered, would there have been SB 1070, the toughest immigration law in the nation when it was passed in 2010?

If Latinos mattered, would Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump believe — even for a second — that it would be a good idea to make a major immigration policy speech in Arizona? Because that’s what he says he plans to do here Wednesday.

If Latinos mattered, would Trump be contemplating his fifth campaign visit to Arizona, where he has stood shoulder- to- shoulder with Arpaio? All this after he insulted Mexicans by calling them criminals and rapists, and promised to build a wall all along the border, and pledged to oversee mass deportations.

I have heard talk, again, about Latinos becoming a dominant voting bloc.

The coalition of organizations called One Arizona is working on a campaign it hopes will register 75,000 voters. Others also have been working to add Latino voters, and on plans to make sure they cast ballots.

Last Thursday, Phoenix got a visit from Dolores Huerta, cofounder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers.

She is a great woman. An inspiration.

Huerta, a board member with People For the American Way, was here to kick off an ad campaign targeting “the anti- immigrant, anti- Latino extremism of Donald Trump and Senate Republicans.” The radio and digital ads in Arizona, North Carolina and Florida “make clear that Trumpublicans/ Trumpublicanos — those who are supporting Trump whether by voting for him or helping him implement his agenda — stand against Latinos,” the group said.

I believe that fact already is pretty clear.

Just as it is pretty clear to Trump, Arpaio and the people who’ve been running the Arizona Legislature and governor’s office for decades that Latinos … do … not … matter.

They should matter. We are all brothers and sisters, after all.

But this is politics, where only one type of person matters.

The type who votes.

EJ Montini is a columnist for The Arizona Republic, where this piece first appeared.