US Vice President Kamala Harris addressed undecided Latin American voters on Thursday, recalling that she is the daughter of immigrants, but without committing to allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to access the citizenship, a debt that Democrats owe to this population. The presidential candidate participated this Thursday in the forum ‘Latinos ask… Kamala Harris responds’, convened by the Hispanic network Univisión in Las Vegas (Nevada), where voters who have not yet decided who to vote for asked the candidate direct questions.
One of the most exciting moments of the evening came when tears Ivett Castillo40 years old and born in Los Angeles, asked the vice president about her a plan to help undocumented immigrants come out of the shadows, after announcing that his mother, María Dolores Figueroa, had recently died without being able to obtain legal status in the country, after having lived for decades in the shadows. Although she showed empathy toward the Hispanic woman by remembering the story of her own mother, an Indian immigrant, Harris avoided making a direct promise to undocumented immigrants and blamed former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) and Republicans for ruining President Joe Biden’s administration’s immigration proposals. Trump “would rather campaign on a problem than solve it,” the vice president said.
As on other occasions He stressed that the immigration system “is broken” and stressed the need to reform it in a “humane” way and establish strict border security policies. He defended “Dreamers,” as those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are called, whom he described as people who have distinguished themselves in different areas of American society and promised to “keep fighting for this group.”
However, Castillo’s mother was not one of the “dreamers”, she belonged to the group of undocumented immigrants who have been waiting for decades for a solution that never came. The bottom line, the most interesting topic During the hour-long conversation, Harris also answered questions about the topics that most interest this electorate and that could be key in swing states like Nevada and Arizona, where Latinos influenced Biden’s victory in 2020 and which the Democrat wants to repeat.
The most recent Pew Center survey found that 85% of Latino voters surveyed say the economy “is very important” in deciding who they vote for in this year’s presidential election, followed by health care (71%) and immigration (59%). “One of the issues I’m going to address is unfair price gouging,” Harris said, promising to promote tax credits for families with children, small businesses and help “the sandwich generation.” as he calls Americans who must take care of their children and their parents.
Harris also highlighted his belief that health care should be a “right, not just a privilege” and noted that Latinos are much more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and are working to limit the cost of insulin to $35 per month. “Access to medical care should not be linked to the money we have,” he stressed. He warned that Trump “tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act” and that he would “get rid of” the Medicare public health program for retirees if elected.
Harris leads Trump in Hispanic electorateThe Pew survey found that 57% of registered Latino voters say they would vote for the vice president and 39% would go for the former president, according to the survey conducted from August 26 to September 2. The presidential preferences of eligible Latino voters appear similar to those in 2020, when Biden beat Trump 61% to 36% among Latino voters who participated in that election.
The National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) estimates that less than half of the 36 million eligible Latino voters will participate in the upcoming election. Trump is also expected to attend a similar forum next week in Miami, Fla., after his scheduled broadcast meeting with Hispanic voters last Tuesday had to be canceled due to the arrival of Hurricane Milton.
