First look: Latinos warned Project 2025 would hit them hard
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A coalition of advocacy groups is warning Latinos about how they could be impacted by Project 2025, the right-wing policy map supported by many of Trump's top advisers.
Why it matters: Project 2025 aims to limit Medicaid, relax environmental protections, shrink the social safety net and shutter the U.S. Department of Education — key issues for Latino voters who will have a decisive role in the presidential elections.
- Yet "there's not enough information" about how it "has really, really troubling ideas on issues that really matter to the Latino community," says Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America's Voice, an immigrant rights organization.
State of play: Seven labor, environmental, immigrant and civic advocacy groups partnered for a bilingual campaign launching Tuesday in several states.
- Dubbed "Defendiendo Nuestro Futuro" or "Defending Our Future," the campaign, which will include door-to-door canvassing, will focus on labor rights, environmental issues, education and health care access.
- Latinos participate in many of the social safety net programs targeted by Project 2025.
- For example, Latinos make up 30% of people enrolled in Medicaid, and many could be affected by proposed caps on the program under Project 2025.
Zoom in: Poder Latinx, one of the organizations involved in the campaign, will help train dozens of canvassers on how to talk to people about Project 2025, says executive director Yadira Sanchez.
- The organization has about 70 canvassers Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Washington, California and Texas.
- Poder Latinx is expanding its reach to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and hopes to have a total of 150 canvassers by Election Day.
The other side: Trump has publicly disavowed Project 2025, pointing instead to his own platform, Agenda47.
- But many of Trump's closest advisers are tied to the project, his policy ideas are consistent with many parts of Project 2025 and the former president hasn't said what from the plan he disagrees with, Cardenas says.
Regardless, "a policy is a reflection of their values, and when you look at some of the values that are laid out in this policy blueprint," it's about excluding people such as immigrants, and "sending a message that our community should not be receiving resources," Cardenas says.
- "We want to make sure that people understand the implications of the choices that they're going to have to make in November," she says.
The big picture: An estimated 36.2 million U.S. Latinos are eligible to vote this election, and they are expected to play a critical role in what could be a tight race, especially in states like Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.
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