Immigration reform advocates have been forwarding the hypothesis that the more strident the Republican candidates remain against immigration reform, the more it may actually backfire. The idea is that the longer candidates like Trump and Cruz spend talking in extremist terms about borders, walls, immigration raids, and deportation, the more Latinos and other minority groups will be galvanized to vote for pro-immigration candidates during the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election. “The more these candidates continue attacking and not showing any way to deal with the immigration issues that the Latino community cares about, the more it’s going to get our community to say we need to participate,” said Ben Monterroso, Executive Director of the Latino group, Mi Familia Vota.
Interestingly, Republicans said after losing the 2012 presidential election that it was imperative to win over more Latino voters, and singled out immigration reform as a key opportunity. But as the 2016 election creeps closer, both Trump and Cruz have made it clear that they are against immigration reform, against President Obama’s Executive Orders, and will terminate the extended DACA and DAPA programs should the Supreme Court side with Obama in their long-anticipated decision, slated to be set forth by June of this year.
At the Shulman Law Group, LLC, we feel that it is critically important that citizens with family members, neighbors, friends, and co-workers who are under attack because of their immigration status take action and channel their frustration into voter participation. We would like to clarify that only citizens are eligible to vote in United States Elections and that Legal Permanent Residents (LPR’s) are not eligible to vote. According to many Latino Public Policy Researchers, there has been a measurable, substantial increase in Latino voter registration and in Latinos wanting to become citizens so they can exercise their right to vote. Our immigration law firm stands poised to assist eligible Green Card Holders (LPR’s) with their citizenship applications.