A coalition of prominent Latino conservatives issued a loud and clear warning to the Republican presidential field on Tuesday: If you adopt Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, you will lose the 2016 election.
The group of Latino activists, small business owners, and elected officials made their public address in Boulder, Colorado, where the Republican candidates are set to face off for the party’s third presidential debate Wednesday night, NBC News reported.
“Heed our warning: don’t expect us to come to your side during the general election,” said Rosario Marín, U.S. Treasurer during George W. Bush’s administration, as quoted by NBC. “If you are not with us now, we won’t be with you then. If you insult us now, we will be deaf to you then. If you take us for granted now, we will not recognize you then.”
Other coalition members, in Colorado for an event organized by the American Principles Project’s Latino project, called Trump out directly for his divisive rhetoric on immigration.
According to NBC, Tony Suarez, Executive Vice President of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, said Trump’s candidacy “needs to be canceled like his last reality TV program.”
“Mr. Trump has become a promoter of hate, division and insult,” Suarez said. “If Mr. Trump were to be the Republican nominee — I don’t think he has a chance at winning the general election.”
The real estate mogul has made anti-immigrant rhetoric a cornerstone of his campaign since his presidential announcement speech in June, in which he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and criminals. He has called for the construction of a “great wall” on the US-Mexico border, demanded the end of birthright citizenship, and insisted that he will deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. in a “humane” process.
Instead of distancing themselves from these radical proposals, many in the GOP field have followed Trump’s lead on immigration. Their rhetoric flies in the face of a 100-page “autopsy” issued by the Republican National Committee after the GOP’s loss in 2012, which called for the party to court Latino and other minority voters if they want to win future presidential elections.
As the left-leaning Center for American Progress reported, the Latino share of eligible voters in the U.S. electorate will grow to 13 percent by 2016. More critically, many key swing states, including Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, have a high percentage of Latino voters.
