By Corine Lesnes (Phoenix (Arizona), special correspondent)
If the Democrats win in Arizona, they will owe it in part to the mobilization of a group of Hispanic women activists, driven into politics by the anti-immigration laws of the 2010s. They have risen through the ranks, succeeded in getting elected to local assemblies, and advanced their demands for equality. Their struggle has resurged today, but the pioneers have organized themselves. "Fear tactics don't work anymore," said Alejandra Gomez, founder of LUCHA (Living United for Change in Arizona), an organization that boasts of having knocked on the doors of 500,000 voters since September.
Latinos make up 33% of Arizona's population and 25% of the electorate. With less than a week to go before a decisive election nationally, but also for Arizona, where Republicans now hold just two majority seats in the Assembly and Senate (down from 12 in each chamber in 2010), Latinas are at the forefront of the mobilization. "Studies show that they are the ones who encourage men to vote, and all family members in the household" said Gomez. "Women are the true believers in the American dream." Immigration, abortion, education: Each woman has their own background and motivation. "We must be grateful to all our moms," the activist insisted. "They showed us how to fight."
Alejandra Gomez: 'We're going to fight'
As a child living in California, Gomez had no idea that her father was living in the US without papers. In 1994, when Golden State voters passed "Proposition 187," a measure that deprived undocumented immigrants of social services, at the forefront of the rise of anti-immigration sentiment in the country, the family preferred to move to Arizona.
Years later, in 2010, Alejandra was caught out in Phoenix by a similar law (SB 1070), known as "show me your papers," which allowed local police to check the status of anyone they wished. A political scientist student, "Alex" decided there was no point in running away and founded LUCHA. As in California, Republicans suffered from the awakening of the sleeping giant. Arizona's Latino electorate gave Biden a majority in 2020 and elected a Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, in 2022.
Today, the same project to criminalize undocumented immigrants is back. In early 2024, the state's Republican elected officials passed a text – known as the "Border Invasion Act" – but it was blocked in March by Hobbs. To bypass the governor's veto, they decided to submit it directly to the voters on November 5. It's "Proposition 314," an initiative that awakens memories of humiliation and racial profiling in the community. "The Republicans were getting really concerned about losing power. They used the playbook that has always existed and demonized our communities," denounced Gomez. "They needed an issue to be able to drive out their base. And so that was immigration."
Proposition 314 goes hand in hand with Trump's plan for "mass deportations" of migrants if elected. It intends to give local police the right to arrest undocumented migrants, whereas the subject of immigration is a prerogative of the federal government. "In practice, it's going to be logistically impossible. We don't see how they're going to be able to enforce such a measure - which is not even funded. This is a fear tactic to cause people to leave, to self-deport, as they did in 2010 when entire neighborhoods emptied out," Gomez explained.
But the environment has changed. "The reality is that immigrants were the essential workers that kept the country moving during the pandemic," said the activist. "We will keep fighting."
Raquel Teran: 'Our rights are under attack again'
On Sunday, October 27, Gomez filled in her ballot paper in the company of several dozen women – and a few men – in a trendy gallery in Phoenix's barrio. An elegant brunch in honor of the "Jefas en la Lucha" – "Women leaders in the struggle." Among the organizers was Raquel Teran, one of the leading figures in the Latino community, who is running for Congress in Arizona's Third Congressional District.
Teran is a force of nature. Moved by the growing hostility towards immigrants, she joined the association encouraging voter registration, Mi Familia Vota, back in 2008, at a time when only 100,000 Latinos were registered (compared with over 650,000 today).
She too was part of the fight against SB 1070, when 50, 000 people came to pray in front of the Capitol in Phoenix, and for the impeachment, in 2011, of State Senator Russell Pearce, the bill's architect. Two years later, she launched a petition against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the emblem of the hunt for illegal immigrants, whom he parked in a tent city. Convicted for his discriminatory practices, the sheriff was pardoned by Trump in 2017.
Elected to the local assembly, to the Senate and then to the Arizona Democratic Party, Teran has survived two lawsuits brought by her Republican opponents questioning her American citizenship.
"Our rights are under attack again. But since 2016 we've been organizing. Since the moment that Donald Trump was sworn in, the next day, there was a movement of women all across the country who went out and march, and it did not just stay at the marches. It really was a march to the polls. The following election, when we took over the House, we were able to regain sanity by electing Joe Biden in 2020. Here in Arizona, we elected a US senator. We had historic victories. So it's been a fight that women have been leading."
As November 5 approaches, women have never been more motivated, she asserted. "We have abortion on the ballot. We have an opportunity to make history by electing the first female president. Sure, some people want to focus on the mind of that minority that is speaking out against a woman being the president or against the issue of abortion. But it's a moment to celebrate ou power."
Raquel Teran has no doubts about victory. "We've done it before. We'll do it again!"
Analise Ortiz: 'I've been accused of inciting an insurrection!'
Analise Ortiz grew up in a family of six and her parents were teachers. A graduate of Arizona State University's prestigious Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, she left the investigative field after three and a half years in the business. "I realized that I could do so much more if I was not having to show both sides of issues that I felt did not have two sides. So I started working at American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona in 2018 on criminal justice reform and legislative advocacy." She entered politics in 2022.
At the age of 30, she was elected to the State House of Representatives. It's not easy to make your voice heard there: with the Republicans in the majority, they control the agenda. According to The Arizona Republic, 24 Democratic bills were brought to the floor in 2023, compared with over 300 Republican bills.
But Ortiz is pleased to have been part of a historic moment: the fight against the law banning abortion altogether in Arizona, a text dating back to 1864, which came back into force after the Supreme Court's decision to stop considering abortion a federal right in 2022. "We made a procedural motion to repeal it and the Republicans blocked us. And in that moment, I shouted, Shame on you. On the House floor, along with several of my other colleagues."
Ortiz was hit with an ethics complaint claiming that she had been inciting an insurrection on the floor of the House. "Both myself and another Latino male were put through this circus of an ethics hearing. And I do not believe I would have been facing that ethics hearing if I was not a woman of color."
The moment remains one of her proudest. "Ultimately we did repeal that abortion ban, and that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't made national headlines by shouting 'Shame on you' on the House floor."
Gabriela Delapaz: 'It was hard for me to be taken seriously'
Gabriela Delapaz hasn't cast her ballot yet, but on abortion, she doesn't understand the opponents' intentions. "Why take rights we already have? We should use our energy to help children!"
Her parents came to the US illegally before she was born, and have only been US citizens for eight years. They worked hard to get here. "I owe it to them to continue to fight. We've made a lot of progress, but we have to show up every day."
As a customer relations employee in a large company, Delapaz realized after a few years that she wasn't going to get ahead because of her origins. "It was difficult to be taken seriously," she said. especially because I'm kind." She went back to school and is preparing to become a physical therapist. Relieved to continue to be herself. And in hospitals, "there's a shortage of people who speak Spanish," she said.
On abortion, Delapaz finds it hard to get her friend to understand her position. "I try to explain how the election impacts us, women, and isn't just about issues that concern him." She's not sure she's succeeded. "Men often find it hard to see beyond their own self-interest," she claimed.
Laura Madrid: 'We must not forget our young men'
Laura Madrid has made a career in a man's world. Born in Mexico, she arrived in Yuma, on the American side of the border, at the age of 7. Since November 2021, she has been the first Latina immigrant owner of an audiovisual media company in Arizona. Her radio station, La Onda, a Spanish-language news station, aims to be "neutral," she said. But she is rarely invited to Republican-organized events.
Madrid had been working in the commercial radio sector for over 15 years when she decided to buy the station rather than let it go under. The banks refused her a loan. "Too risky." She was advised to buy "a food truck instead."
The businesswoman has two sons, aged 14 and 19. The oldest will be voting for the first time. She worries about the gender gap, which has never been greater than in this election, particularly in the Latino electorate. "I see it when I speak to my boys, she said. My children's generation, they don't understand the importance of the things that are changing for women. They think that women already have all the rights."
They have to be educated. "They are not aware that still today, women don't earn the same wage, don't have the same opportunities, or that they are not always invited to the table when decisions are made." Laura was raised in a very conservative household, where talk about religion or politics was not welcome. She is careful to encourage discussions in her family. "We need to educate our young men about what their generation's going to look like." By stressing mostly the rise of women, "we are forgetting about our young men."
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