Latinos Change Texas’ Future, May Suffer In Present
By Stace Medellín
Recently I attended the Harris County (Houston) Democratic Party Brown Bag discussion, including State Reps. Armando Walle, Scott Hochberg, and Carol Alvarado. They shared an outlook of the coming legislative session.
Alvarado kicked off the discussion with the upcoming redistricting of Texas; a special session may be required to complete the reapportionment of Congressional seats.Texas stands to gain as many as four new Congressional districts based on population growth. Estimates show that growth has been experienced in the Dallas area, the I-35 Corridor, in the Rio Grande Valley, and of course, Houston. Looking over population estimates, it is no surprise that at least three of these districts will be created due to Latino population growth.
Hochberg provided a not-so-rosy picture. Given the recent party-switches of two Democrats, Republicans will now have a supermajority in the House with which to pass any type of legislation they desire — including some of the most divisive and racist anti-immigrant measures in recent history. But concentrating on the overall budget scenario, a $18 to $25 billion shortfall will be part of an overall budget of $90 billion.
So, a shortfall of a quarter of the budget now gives us the reality that we really are talking real money.
Given the 40% of the total budget goes to public education, the ideas that are being tossed about by Republicans will not do much to “save” any given program. How the proverbial ax is taken to the budget will be interesting. Republicans have stated that they are looking for options — like slicing off Grandma from the Medicaid rolls?
The discussion then came to the Republican submitted anti-immigrant bills. Most Texas Latinos have a family member or someone they know who is undocumented, so Democrats here don’t have much of a choice but to fight back those attempts by Republicans to divide the state. Yet, there have been some Democrats who have not taken on the Republicans on their anti-immigrant leanings, basically, because some districts are so politically mixed. And with Latinos not being a community with a high-propensity for voting, those legislators play to the right-of-center on immigration in order to win in those tougher districts. (Did that work in 2010?)
Walle reminded those in attendance that even his district is 72% Hispanic and of those about half are of voting age, and even less vote. This means he is not necessarily in a politically “Latino” district, which could turn based on any given issue, especially immigration reform. To his credit, though, Walle stated that he would fight for what is right, adding, “If I lose an election after a fight like this, I will still be able to sleep at night.”
Among Latino activists in the audience and the elected officials there was agreement on something very important: Latinos must be engaged by the Democratic Party at all times and not just three weeks before an election if Democrats are to make a comeback in 2012. According to activists in the audience, there will be plenty of actions and activities in the state to fight against the Republican anti-immigrant bills, with eyes set toward 2012.
[Image Via David Benbennick]Stace Medellín is a political strategist in Houston, Texas.
