La Raza endorses Hillary Clinton

La Raza endorses Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

La Raza opposes Donald Trump candidacy, rejects his ideology as extremist and racist; warns of the danger of fascism in our country, and denounces that Trump’s campaign brings an unprecedented social upheaval, tests the strength of our democracy, and poses a threat to the freedom of the press.

Particularly, La Raza rejects and condemns Trump-led statements, plans and incitements against Latinos in the U.S. in general, and immigrants in particular.

La Raza has not endorsed a candidate for almost a decade, but the relevance of this election makes it imperative.

While endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, La Raza wishes to make clear that this support is not unconditional. In defense of the interests of Hispanics, we will follow her administration’s actions closely, and, if necessary, our editorial page will express criticism or protest.

Once she reaches power, as we wish she will, the new president must fulfill the political promises she has made to earn the Latino vote. Among them, promoting and passing immigration reform in her first 100 days in office.

During the primaries against Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton promised reform with a pathway to citizenship: “We need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to full and equal citizenship. If Congress won’t act, I’ll defend President Obama’s executive actions — and I’ll go even further to keep families together. I’ll end family detention, close private immigrant detention centers, and help more eligible people become naturalized,” said Clinton.

In her official platform, Clinton promises “fix the family visa backlog.” She will also “end the three- and 10-year bars forcing families to choose between remaining in the shadows or pursue a green card by leaving the country and loved ones behind.”

But immigration reform is only one of our community’s worries. Another one is health care, which was expanded with Obamacare and now needs to consolidate and grow. The candidate’s platform vows to “expand access to affordable health care to families regardless of immigration status by allowing families to buy health insurance on the health exchanges regardless of their immigration status” if they wish so.

We stress the importance of keeping and expanding affordable healthcare plans, and we acknowledge that she is promising to fulfill that.

When it comes to education, we support her plan to expand access so more students can enroll in universities and community colleges. Our students get into debt or drop out of school because they can’t afford their dream career. This help is crucial, as well as focusing on a curriculum that prepares the students for today’s technological and competitive world.

As for employment, we support the creation of new jobs. Even though employment has improved relatively, salaries remain low for minorities. Raising the federal minimum wage must be a priority, in order to put pressure on the states to follow the same path.

Therefore, it is important for President Hillary Clinton to keep the promises of candidate Hillary Clinton in those and  issues that concern the community, such as support for Army veterans, campaign finance reform, respect for LGBT rights and much more.

And even though she may not be the perfect candidate, as some of the documents unveiled by WikiLeaks suggest, this moment calls for joining forces around a historical presidential bid that would put a woman in the White House for the first time, in order to prevent a social and economic crisis with terrible consequences if Trump were to be elected.