The People Voted to End the War on Immigrants—Now Democrats Must Act

Yes, Election Day was a day of hope and victory. From coast to coast—and especially among Latino communities in key states like Texas—voters overwhelmingly rejected Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence, President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, and billionaire-backed scapegoating. People saw through the lie that immigrants drive up the cost of living and chose a future focused on real economic relief. The future is suddenly looking brighter.

For an immigrant like me who came to this country and still has no ability to vote, there’s so much hope coming from Houston, where Latino voters turned out in record numbers and dedicated their vote to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the immigrant father who was killed by ICE. There’s hope coming from young first- and second-generation Latinos like my nephews and nieces who dedicated their votes to their immigrant family members and friends.

This message from voters is very clear for the newly elected candidates celebrating this week—everyone who won on the promise to fight back against Trumpism. Tuesday’s vote was a clear rejection of the war on immigrants. Let it also mark an end to Democratic cowardice, and the end of putting corporate interests over people.

Democrats, you had the Latino vote before and lost it. Now you have it back—don't mess this up.

It's time to act on the mandate that voters just delivered—especially the millions of Latino voters, horrified by the last two years, who just swung hard away from Trump.

Democrats, you had the Latino vote before and lost it. Now you have it back—don't mess this up. History in California, Arizona, and Texas shows that while Latino voters will reject mass deportation campaigns, failing to deliver on promises made to our communities causes that support to slip. You cannot take us for granted. You need a positive, pro-working-class, pro-immigrant agenda, and you need to compete for our votes. You can start by showing true political courage by protecting our families and neighbors.

Getting ICE out of our communities is no longer just an immigration issue—it is a safety issue for us.

That courage starts with stopping ICE. Get those violent criminals out of our communities and make sure they can never terrorize us or anyone else again. Stop ICE and Border Patrol and all the other corrupted parts of the Department of Homeland Security. Bring to justice everyone in this government responsible for so many crimes and terrors against immigrants.

Inspect detention centers and enforce real congressional oversight. Shut off the pipeline that feeds from streets and sidewalks of immigrant communities into for-profit torture prisons where neglect and abuse have led to a rising toll of sickness, injury, and death.

At the local level, you can stand up for immigrants by fiercely defending sanctuary laws, cities, and states. Keep federal agents and anti-immigrant operatives out of our homes, schools, and churches. Stop ICE’s local enablers by ending 287(g) programs that turn local police into immigration enforcers. We cannot let local law enforcement take federal dollars to racially profile and target brown communities. Put an end to the abuse now.

Latino voters stood by their immigrant families and neighbors on Tuesday, and Democrats need to remember that. Remember the families who remain separated. The imprisoned and the dead. And those who stood with immigrants at the risk of their own lives.

Remember the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti. Carlos Roberto Montoya, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The unconstitutional and unlawful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The detention of 5-year-old Liam Cornejo Ramos. The brave people of Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

I'm grateful for everyone who voted on Tuesday for decency, humanity, and the Constitution. I'm also grateful for the courageous people, immigrants and allies, who took to the streets in the last two years, like ambulance crews rushing to the scene of an emergency or firefighters to an out-of-control blaze.

Election Day gave us many victories, but organizing gives us power—so let’s turn this mandate into action, hit the streets, hold our leaders accountable, and build the safe, just future our families deserve.