‘They instill fear in people, and that’s not what politics is supposed to be about’ What matters to local Latino voters this upcoming election

SPOKANE COUNTY — Across the country, politicians are doing more to target Latino voters.

Pew Research shows Latinos account for nearly 15% of all eligible voters. A number that has steadily increased over the last 20 years.

4 News Now spoke to local Latino voters to find out what matters most this upcoming election and how their community has been a target of attack for certain politicians.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,” said former President Donald Trump in 2015 during his presidential announcement speech.

Those are words that still echo throughout the Latino community today.

“No matter if your skin is brown or your hair is curly like this, your targeted, because that’s what politicians are saying about us right now, that we’re felons, we’re criminals,” said Amizadai Deras, Community Programs Director for Latinos en Spokane.

But are those attacks grounded in reality?

A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences, looked at arrest data from the Texas Department of Public Safety. It compares the criminality of undocumented immigrants to legal immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens between 2012 and 2018.

The findings show that relative to undocumented immigrants, U.S. born citizens are more than two times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes and more than four times more likely to be arrested for property crimes.

Statistically, the numbers don’t back up the narrative that illegal immigrants are bringing in high crime rates.

“They discourage people, they instill fear in people. And, that’s not what politics is supposed to be about. That’s not what this country is supposed to be about. This country was built on immigrants,” said Santos Juan Hernandez Jr. a local immigration case worker.

With the rise in Latino-American voters, this community’s vote can be monumental in the November elections.

“They give back to the community, so that’s the population that we want to see voting, because part of giving back to the community is voting. Your vote is your voice, said Ana Trusty, Interim Director for Mujeres in Spokane.

Other issues also matter to local voters.

“We want jobs to be available. We want us to be safe. We want us to have healthcare, access to services,” said Trusty.

However, when you look at Spokane County’s voter pamphlets or ballots, there is a language barrier that keeps some Latino voters from making it to the polls.

Spokane County is not required to translate ballots or voters’ pamphlets because there is no certain population that’s not proficient in English that makes up 5% of the county’s population.

It’s a barrier some Latinos feel silence their vote.

“What we have done over the last number of presidential election years, is we have tried to help those people by translating ballots,” said Becky Dickerhoof, a member of the League of Women Voters.

Mujeres in Action (M.I.A), a local non-profit, has also been advocating for the county to pass a budget that would pay to translate ballots.

Since there aren’t any translated ballots as of now, for this general election, non-English speaking Latinos will have to go to the League of Women Voters in order to get a translated ballot.

Because of these barriers, M.I.A is actively working to encourage young Latinos to vote.

“Most likely they can vote, their parents might not,” said Trusty. “So, their vote is really important, because they’re not only voting for themselves, they’re voting for their family, they’re voting for their community.”

That’s what keeps this community going, their culture that’s rooted in familial ties.

“My voice, I know is my family’s voice that can’t vote,” said Deras. “So vote, because if you think your vote doesn’t matter, no it does matter.”