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The chairman of a coalition encompassing 39 leading national and regional Latino organizations said the Latino vote will play a more influential role in the presidential election race.

Hector Sanchez, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), told Latin Post the Latino electorate will be "more critical than ever and more decisive than ever." Recognizing the rise of anti-Latino and anti-immigrant rhetoric and congressional legislation, Sanchez said the Latino community has become more united, and they will mobilize in electing the highest political office in the country.

Sanchez, who also serves as the executive director for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), referenced the House legislation "Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act" (H.R. 3009), which would amend the "Immigration and Nationality Act" and make state and local jurisdictions ineligible of federal funding if they refuse to comply on reporting detained immigrants.

"[H.R. 3009] drastically affects the Latino community, but it also erodes the civil rights of people in the nation," Sanchez said.

"This legislation is a misguided response to the tragic murder of an innocent woman in San Francisco, but it is based on generalizations about all immigrants based on the actions of one individual. It really is scapegoating all immigrants and in particular Latino immigrants."

The House passed H.R. 3009 with 241-179 votes on July 23. Latino Republican lawmakers including Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida voted in favor of the bill. Fellow Latino Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, also from Florida, voted against the bill.

Sanchez said the Latino community encounters trust issues as a result of such enforcement-only policies and anti-immigrant pieces of legislation. He also referred to a study indicating immigrants are less likely to engage in criminal behavior and be behind bars than U.S.-born individuals.

The NHLA chairman said it is "a national embarrassment" to see such anti-immigrant bills and not immigration reform legislation. He stated it is a disgrace to see that a "small extremist section of the Republican Party" controls the national agenda on immigration.

"It's unacceptable that Republicans cannot come to the table to negotiate what is the best for the nation based on studies, everything shows the economic impact is so good if we have immigration reform, the cultural impact, the social impact -- we all know the benefits of immigration reform," said Sanchez.

As Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and the Center for American Progress stated, with President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions, the U.S. can accrue a GDP increase of $230 billion in the next 10 years and 28,000 new jobs, annually.

"The Senate agreed on this issue," Sanchez said, referring to S. 744 -- "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act" in 2013. "It's really a national embarrassment to see the mediocrity of these politicians that decide to focus on bills like H.R. 3009 instead of coming to the table with serious proposals for moving the agenda forward on immigration reform, which is the best for the nation."

"Most parties recognize that the Latino vote is the decisive element in a presidential election, and it keeps increasing year by year. All this is critical, and as a coalition we are committed to get out the Latino vote, to mobilize the Latino vote, to do voter registration [and] to do voter education," Sanchez said, observing that the current extremist rhetoric has been uniting the Latino community to participate in civic engagement.

"We're going to mobilize more than ever," said Sanchez. "We're going to send them a strong message."

According to Sanchez, as a coalition, the NHLA are assembling the priorities of the Latino community and, on their behalf, will meet with each of the presidential candidates to discuss where they stand on correlation to Latinos' top concerns, which would provide as a better assessment guide and tool for the electorate.

"We need to send a strong message to people like Donald Trump that are trying to run for the most important office in the nation. ... He's not just a clown with a microphone. His actions have a direct impact in the Latino community. Because of guys like Trump, because of anti-immigrant voices [and] because of racist voices, hate crimes against Latinos in the nation increased by 50 percent in the last five years."

Sanchez categorized Trump as a representation of the extreme section within the Republican Party. The LCLAA executive director acknowledged there was not a strong reaction opposing Trump, and it was not acceptable for the Republican Party to allow similar extremist voices to take over the political party.

"It's not the first time we see somebody like this. ... If the Republican Party wants to win a percentage of the Latino vote ... they must change this kind of behavior, and they need to make sure they're serious about negotiating on immigration reform," Sanchez said.

Sanchez assured the coalition is not only criticizing the Republican Party, but the Democrats have also received criticism on their immigration inaction. He acknowledged the coalition's condemnation of Obama's deportation policies and failure to keep his promise to act on immigration reform during his first presidential term.

"We have been very aggressive to press on this administration to do the right thing on executive action. ... We are fully on board putting pressure on the different entities that are trying to prevent the implantation of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) all over the nation. This is a top priority," Sanchez said, noting there is coinciding pressure on Congress to start a serious conversation for immigration reform.

As chair for the NHLA, Sanchez said the coalition provides a space for all 39 Latino organizations to collaborate and decide what are the Latino priorities in the nation, then create a public policy agenda and build campaigns involving those priorities to put add on pressure on the Obama administration and Congress.

Among the 39 NHLA members are the Cuban American National Council, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Federation, Hispanic National Bar Association, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Hispanic Medical Association, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, National Council of La Raza and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"It's very interesting, and there is a beauty about working in such a powerful and important coalition because we have groups that are conservative, we have groups that are progressive, we have groups that represent on every issues including some of the most controversial in the nation," Sanchez said.

"The good thing is to see the level of unity that we have in the coalition. I think as a community we're going through some serious attacks that affects all the communities, all these anti-immigrant pieces legislation, all these anti-immigrant [and] anti-Latino voices in the nation are really creating a unity, and it has been really good to see we can reach consensus in a number of political issues and make sure this unity stays together."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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