Latino Republicans, Come Home to the Party Where Your Heart Is : Politics: The Democratic agenda of support for housing, health care and schools is in working peoples’ interest.

It has been perhaps 15 years since Mexican Americans began joining the Republican Party in significant numbers. Despite strong peer criticism that they were betraying their working class roots, Latinos signed up, arguing that if Mexican Americans were really interested in political empowerment, they had to participate in both parties. For Republicans to understand and address our needs, they said, we have to work from within. And a handful of brown faces in a sea of white Republican ones was sure to stand out and benefit, politically, socially and economically.

Republicans welcomed their new friends with open arms. GOP political organizations helped organize and finance Latinos. Elected officials, including Gov. Pete Wilson, supported affirmative action regulations, hired Latino staff, funded “Republican friendly” Latino community groups and promised to finance Latino candidates.

But things have changed dramatically. Benevolent Republican support of affirmative action and cultural diversity has turned into a harsh call to end equal opportunity and xenophobic demands that English be the only language used in official business. Fringe right wingers like Rep. Duncan Hunter of El Cajon have become the party standard bearers. Conservative wanna-be Wilson abandoned his support for affirmative action and made rhetoric against minorities the basis for his failed presidential bid. Some have gone so far as to demand that government services be denied even to legal immigrants. This proposal has not only Latinos but also Southeast Asians and Filipinos taking notice.

Republican support for Latino political organizations has steadily shrunk and many have ceased to exist. Latino appointees and staff members quickly hit glass ceilings. Entrepreneurs and poverty agencies have found their patrons calling for an end to minority preferences and grants on which they had depended. As for Republican financial support of Latino candidates, it never materialized.

The Republican Party has decided the Latino vote is expendable. In trying to appease its mainstream constituents, it has launched a search and destroy campaign against the issues and institutions most important to Latinos and other working people. Minimum wage laws, educational institutions and medical services for the young and the elderly have become Republican targets. Immigrants, legal and otherwise, are the favorite scapegoats to explain California’s economic troubles.

Latino Republicans are caught in an embarrassing if not shameful situation. They are stuck in a party that views them as crashers tolerated only to the extent they will continue to provide political cover for anti-Latino proposals such as Proposition 187.

Latino Republicans should come home. While it is true that they have not always been comfortable with Democrats--often viewing them as ultra-liberals with values dissimilar to their own--for the most part Democrats have stood firm with Latinos on the main issues.

Whether fighting for decent wages, better schools or affordable health care, Democrats have been there and Republicans have not. When Republicans tried to expel undocumented children from our schools, Democrats fought them. Democrats were there when Republicans tried to do away with prevailing wage laws, reduce Social Security benefits, increase fees in higher education and cut Medicare services, school lunches and student loans.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party is still not conscious of the contributions Latinos are making politically. While Latinos today make up over one-quarter of California’s population, many Democrats still haven’t figured out that their party’s future is directly linked to the growing political participation of Latinos.

It is therefore incumbent on Latinos to participate in the Democratic Party at all levels. This does not mean imposing a “Latino agenda” on the party or only becoming involved on issues such as affirmative action. It means working together with other Democrats to promote the interests of all working people.

Latinos should be advocating for decent-paying jobs and business opportunities. They should be working to improve schools and making sure higher education is accessible to all who want to learn. They should be leaders in promoting affordable housing, health and child care, while at the same time accepting responsibility as watchful guardians of our environment.

This opportunity for Latinos to realize the full potential of their energy and leadership is better than continuing in a party that doesn’t respect them, their heritage or their culture.