MEXICO.- In the months prior to the November 8 elections, Artemio Arreola and other activists from the Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants (CDIR) and Refugees tightened the grip with a strategy to get people to vote.
They printed information bulletins, knocked on doors, called on the phone and They sent emails to the migrant community that has never gone out to vote because of their decision or because they did not have papers in Illinois.
“ We searched the electoral register and detected the who might be interested”, he details in an interview with this newspaper. “Sometimes it is the son, the father or the wife.”
The Coalition for the Rights of Migrants knows that every year thousands of new voters join and that there are people who do not dare to vote and they are their objective to convince them to “tip the balance in favor” of the agenda that helps improve the conditions of the undocumented and the Latino community.
A margin of 7% and 11% can make a difference , says Artemio, a native of the state of Jalisco. “We explain and teach those indecisive or apathetic people to understand how community organization and political organization work. We do not tell them who to vote for, but we do tell them the battles we have as a community: health for all, Immigration Reform, farm work.”
Artemio Arreaga assures that their work contributes to tilting the balance in each of the contests and particularly in the past ones, they were a key player in the five most closely contested states: Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado and Texas.
According to the Pew Research Center, since the last midterm elections, Latinos are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the US electorate, with an increase of 4.7 million people since 2018.
In Illinois, where the CDIR did more field work, the results favored the Democrats , where Governor JR Pritzker retained a second term.
Artemio Arreola clarifies that the Coalition does not promote any candidate and does not promote any party, but rather that its work is merely informative, therefore or that they are only in charge of educating about the proposals that each candidate has, to generate a conscious and informed vote.
They do it in English, French, Arabic and even Chinese, although mainly in Spanish because they are the majority of immigrants. “It is important to do it in their main language because we noticed that it is one of the barriers for people to go out and vote”
With this potential, the Coalition goes out to talk to the candidates and He convinces them to commit to a pro-immigrant agenda and launch proposals for health, housing, education, better laws
“Elections are a vehicle for advancing day by day. Not all Republicans are bad, and not all Democrats are good”, affirms Artemio.
“Our purpose is to make an ever bigger electoral impact. We have to make a difference and place candidates who support the community”.
Apathetic and new voters
In the months prior to the voting on November 8 in the United States, Emelia Díaz came and went. From the fields of upstate New York to the capital city in search of a letter of no criminal record.
“I want to become a US citizen”, she explained to the diplomats at the Mexican consulate, where she was looking for the document that is a requirement for the residency process to which she aspires by marriage. Then citizenship. “I want to vote”.
Emelia Díaz is an activist from the state of Guerrero in favor of the rights of women who work as farmers in the United States and, unlike her American husband, believes in the power of the Latin vote.
“My husband does not like to participate, he does not believe that with what he does in the ballot box things can improve and has never voted in 40 years; I, on the other hand, have seen how progress is made in the New York region where we live and how to fight for rights, not remain silent, it does help,” he says in a telephone interview with this newspaper.
Emelia Díaz managed to obtain her letter of no criminal record a few days before the election. She could not vote because she still has a long way to go to citizenship, but she was able to convince her husband, the family profile that political organizations in favor of immigrant rights are betting on.
Latinos will increasingly have the ability to play a decisive role in US politics as it is the fastest growing racial or ethnic group of voters.
In 2012, when Barack Obama was seeking re-election for a second term, Latinos represented the 10% of the electorate — versus 9% in 2008 — and they turned out to be a key group for his victory. For this year they already represent 14%.
They have also had a historic increase in voter turnout. According to polls, about 11% of the Latino electorate voted in November of 2016, compared to with the 11% of 2012. They also had a record in 2018 because 40% of the Hispanic population eligible to vote showed up to vote, twice as many as four years earlier.
Artemio Arreola calculates that, if this trend continues, Latinos, and particularly Mexicans, will have double political power both in their adopted country and in Mexico, where they also push for their political rights.
The CDIR was one of the main organizations that at the beginning of the 2,000 achieved the vote for Mexicans abroad in Mexico and have subsequently fought for their full political rights to be recognized in their country of origin, including being able to be elected.
In the last electoral contest they sued before the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation so that the political parties would allow them to have representatives in the Chamber of Deputies and they are currently seeking that the elected reform ral definitively include the obligation to be included in all popularly elected positions.
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