Some views from Little Village
Friday, Nov 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Laura Rodríguez Presa at the Tribune…
In the five wards with the highest rate of Latinos, Trump got from 27% to 41% of the vote in this week’s election, according to a Tribune analysis of voting and demographic data.
It is difficult to compare that to how those same areas voted four years ago, because the city redrew ward maps and changed voting precinct boundaries. But one clue can be found in comparing the voting patterns in precincts within Little Village, known as the Mexico of the Midwest and a gateway for immigrants, including many of the new migrants.
In precincts within Little Village, the support for Trump appeared to have more than doubled: from 13% in 2020 to 32% in 2024, according to an analysis of unofficial results. That type of swing mirrors national data that suggests the Latino vote helped Trump get into office despite his use of rhetoric during the campaign that his opponents decried as racist and anti-immigrant.
For some naturalized citizens in Chicago, children of immigrants and even some people in the U.S. illegally, the promise of a better economy and stronger border security outweighs the threat of mass deportation and stricter immigration policies. Many said they shifted to the right because they felt left out and betrayed by the Democratic candidates after recent migrants received financial support and work permits but longtime undocumented immigrants were seemingly forgotten.
Barajas was one of them. While sipping on his brandy, he said he was hopeful that the new administration “would know who to deport.” […]
Though [President-elect Trump] has said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen from a country the U.S. is at war with, he has spoken about deploying the National Guard, which can be activated on orders from a governor. Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, has said troops under sympathetic Republican governors would be sent to nearby states that refuse to participate.
Lots more in that very well-written piece, so go read the whole thing..
* Coincidentally, I had a text conversation with Rep. Edgar Gonzalez on Wednesday. He’s a twenty-something progressive Democrat who represents Little Village…
Rep. Gonzalez: I fully expected him to win - not the popular vote tho, that was a surprise, but it makes sense in hindsight. Young Latino dudes are getting a bad rap so I’m preparing for that.
Miller: How so?
Rep. Gonzalez: Young people, Latinos, and Latino men in particular broke for Trump - a lot of people are oversimplifying the why to machismo, which is a big but not the only reason.
Miller: What are the other reasons?
Rep. Gonzalez: Distrust in politicians - Dems and GOP are basically the same (however erroneous that sounds) especially after Dems went right on border security, so they looked at other issues.
Economic injustice - Latinos are overrepresented in sectors hard-hit by outsourcing and automation, the type of jobs Trump promised to bring back.
Graduates and non - Latino men are graduating less than their Latina counterparts (adds to their reliance on lower skilled jobs). It freezes their socioeconomic mobility, opens them up to misinformation and conspiracy theories.
I would add that some of the misinformation he spoke of was claimed in the above Tribune story, which quoted people who believe, for instance, that migrants receive food stamps. That’s not to say their grievances are false. They’re absolutely right to say that nobody from the government helped them when they came here to work.
* Meanwhile, this is from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights…
Today we are launching a community defense plan that will:
• Activate our deportation defense infrastructure through a series of public know-your-rights trainings,
• Further restrict data-sharing with ICE and bolster hard-won defenses that protect our people from federal immigration authorities.
• Build out our statewide rapid response infrastructure to meet the needs of immigrants beyond Chicago and its suburbs.
• Extend a hand to all other progressive social movements to work in solidarity and across our differences to create the vision we need for collective liberation.
- Steve - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 10:49 am:
This one of the biggest stories of the election of 2024. Many political pundits didn’t see Trump doing so well with a portion of the Latino vote.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 10:49 am:
“While sipping on his brandy, he said he was hopeful that the new administration would know who to deport.”
Incredible lack of awareness. I’m sure the Enemy Within Task Force is going to sweep through the southwest side and similar communities with the utmost delicacy and precision, such as the US government has always demonstrated.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 10:53 am:
–
Many said they shifted to the right because they felt left out and betrayed by the Democratic candidates after recent migrants received financial support and work permits but longtime undocumented immigrants were seemingly forgotten.
–
This is it, right here. Now expand that to many positions taken by Democrats when they were elected. Almost every group courted by the Democratic party has a story like this this year.
Some turned to the right. Many more simply didn’t bother to show up to vote because they would rather not vote than vote republican.
Locally, there were two slots on my own ballot I left blank. The democrats in those offices have been ineffectual at best, have been taking actions directly opposite what they ran on once in office, or were self-sabotaging at worst. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for them again just because they have a D next to their name -which I think the D’s were counting on FAR too heavily- but I’m also not going to vote for the republican candidate because I know that bad is still better than worse.
- Lincoln Lad - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 10:59 am:
So if your parents came in illegally, went to work, raised a family, built a life… will Trump allow them to stay? He’s not said that, he’s said he will go after criminals first. He’s promised a mass deportation, not a surgical one. In truth, your best hope is that they run out of time and money before they get to your parents. He’s going to make a show, and good people will have their lives turned upside down. That you can count on.
- prediction markets - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:10 am:
An interesting question based on the Tribune article is will Elena Ruiz be in the US two years from now.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:15 am:
People, take a breath before commenting here. Just because you’re agitated doesn’t mean the rules have changed. To the deleted folks: tone it down.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:15 am:
- Incredible lack of awareness. -
You could say the same about the Harris campaign. Words only take you so far, people need to see actions at some point.
- Aaron B - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:17 am:
I was just talking to someone who interacts with a decent number of Latinos and most of them were all behind the president-elect because they believe he is going to deport all of the Venezuelans. You notice I didn’t say these people voted from the new administration though because many of them are here illegally themselves and don’t think that the new administration will target them for deportation.
- hmmm - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:32 am:
People have been complaining about this. Heck, they were also down 10 percent with Black men. We’ve been talking about reparations since the end of slavery. But got nothing. Don’t get anything. Fight for civil rights. They get eroded, then mass incarceration. Then some people from certain places get help. Meanwhile Black Haitian migrants were straight up being deported although their country is in worse shape than Venezuela.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:35 am:
===Heck, they were also down 10 percent with Black men. ===
NBC Senior National Political Reporter…
- hmmm - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:37 am:
You’re right. I saw some inital stuff saying it went from 88% to 78%
- Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:39 am:
“people need to see actions at some point.”
Oh, I believe they’ll see actions.
- Rabid - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:41 am:
Catholic Latinos didn’t vote for trump. They voted against abortion
- Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:46 am:
“he was hopeful that the new administration “would know who to deport.”
Got bad news for you, Scooter.
People foaming at the mouth to implement this don’t really do nuance.
- Dupage - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:46 am:
What I find concerning is it looks like the house, the senate, the presidency, and the US Supremes are all controlled by the same party.
- Telly - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:48 am:
Appreciate Rep Gonzales’ insight. Lots of good stuff there.
But I think his progressive sensibilities got the best of him with this: “…Dems went right on border security, so they looked at other issues.”
Not sure exactly how the Dems “went right” on the border…maybe Biden’s executive order on asylum requests? But if Latinos were upset about a supposed Dem shift against immigration, why would they move toward a candidate positioned about a thousand miles further to the right?
Then again, there is evidence some voters often do cut-off their nose to spite their face. For instance, pro-Palestinian voters who punished the Dems for being too sympathetic to Israel by voting for the guy who has a settlement named after him in the West Bank and who enacted a Muslim ban.
As an American of European dissent whose grandparents were immigrants, my take on Latinos moving toward Trump is that Latinos are behaving like most other ethnic groups. Once they’ve been here a couple generations, they become much less tolerant of immigration.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:50 am:
People, stay on topic.
- prediction markets - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:50 am:
Many corporate lobbyists in Big Ag and construction assume the whole deportation thing is bs at the end of the day, as does Elena Ruiz and other people mentioned in the article (in Ruiz’ case so much so that she confirms she is undocumented in the paper). We will see who is right very quickly
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 11:51 am:
===why would they move toward===
They don’t do nuance.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 12:05 pm:
While sipping on his brandy, he said he was hopeful that the new administration “would know who to deport”
First off, Democrats deserve and should listen to any blame they’re owed, for any reason. That’s what makes a healthy democracy. However, in their grievances against Democrats, many may have joined the “hope the leopard doesn’t eat my face” club. Others or “the bad ones” get hurt, not themselves. Mass deportations, inflationary tariffs, massive federal cuts, decimation of federal agencies, RFK Jr. in charge of national health, Herschel Walker Jr. in charge of an iron dome defense shield, etc.
- JS Mill - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 12:08 pm:
=They don’t do nuance.=
That cannot be said enough.
They also listen to too much social media.
One comment I found fascinating is this:
=Many said they shifted to the right because they felt left out and betrayed by the Democratic candidates after recent migrants received financial support and work permits but longtime undocumented immigrants were seemingly forgotten.
–
There is a bit of cognitive dissonance happening there.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 12:25 pm:
- punished the Dems for being too sympathetic to Israel -
I’m going to limit my response since this is off topic but that is a gross oversimplification.
- Treefiddy - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 12:28 pm:
Barajas’ quote is the epitome of this viral quote: “I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.
- walker - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 12:49 pm:
“”They don’t do nuance.”"
Yep. True of voters in general. They mostly do image and slogans.
- Frida's Boss - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 1:14 pm:
Immigration was the #2 issue in every state, according to the AP link Rich shared Wednesday. Economy was #1. Those two combined, in every single state, accounted for the top two issues with well over 50% of the voting public, in every single state.
Abortion was #3 in most states but in a few even climate change was ahead of abortion rights.
In Illinois abortion was the top issue with only 11% of voters, yet it was in every campaign ad and mail I saw from every Dem candidate in Illinois. It was also a massive amount of the spend in PA, Mich and Wis.
In Pennsylvania Economy and Immigration combined for 62% with abortion at 14%.
In Michigan E and I accounted for 59% with abortion at 14%.
In Wisconsin E and I accounted for 60% abortion at 16%.
When the most important to the DNC and the party insiders is the third most important issue on voters minds, there may be a disconnect.
- Give Us Barabbas - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 1:55 pm:
How do you say “ crab bucket “ in Spanish?
I come from european immigrant stock, and I believe in the idea that immigrants of all types makes us better. Something I read recently is that once naturalized, this generation of immigrants is less interested in helping more people come here after them: pulling up the ladder behind them is the term I have seen. I think if true it may be a sign of desperation and feeling that there’s not enough resources to share, so I will get mine and forget about those behind me.
- Steve Polite - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 2:19 pm:
“Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, has said troops under sympathetic Republican governors would be sent to nearby states that refuse to participate.”
Would those “nearby states” be able to defend themselves against the military invasion? /S
If they are activated at the state level, would they even have any jurisdiction or authority in another state? If they are activated at the federal level, they are considered active duty members of the military. Currently the military is not used for law enforcement in the U.S. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the new administration tried to change that.
- Chicagonk - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 2:33 pm:
At least Democrats will hopefully stop saying Latinx.
- Proud Sucker - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 3:12 pm:
“…once naturalized, this generation of immigrants is less interested in helping more people come here after them…”
This also describes the Know Nothings in the 1840s. I think the undercurrent has long been in effect.
- Demoralized - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 3:14 pm:
==I wouldn’t be surprised if the new administration tried to change that==
They don’t have to change anything to do it. The power already exists. It’s called the Insurrection Act. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to use it.
- EP1082 - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 3:16 pm:
===Many said they shifted to the right because they felt left out and betrayed by the Democratic candidates after recent migrants received financial support and work permits but longtime undocumented immigrants were seemingly forgotten.===
Reminds me of the old Sprint commercial where a new kid came to class and they gave him a bunch of stuff and the other kids got nothing.
- Demoralized - Friday, Nov 8, 24 @ 3:17 pm:
I’m having a hard time grasping why some of the people who supported Trump did so. Latinos specifically make me shake my head. I guess we’ll see whether they regret their support or not when people come knocking on the doors of every Latino asking to see their citizenship papers.