A civil rights giant wants to stay nonpartisan and dispel border fears. Can it do both?
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Born in Phoenix more than half-century ago, UnidosUs, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, appears to be at a crossroads.
Is it a nonpartisan charity that unites and uplifts all Latinos or is it a partisan player in local and national elections?
It can’t be both and unite all Latinos.
On Tuesday at the Arizona Science Center, UnidosU.S. sounded very much like it is trying to thread the needle of two incompatible missions.
Janet Murguia, president and CEO of UnidosUS, announced the launch of Count on Us, a campaign to rebuff the “false narratives” that create suspicion and fear about Hispanics.
As an example, Murguia pointed to hard-nosed political advertising by conservative politicians that depict the U.S. as being “invaded” or “under attack,” reports The Republic’s Daniel Gonzalez.
"I think those are examples of the false narratives and misinformation that are often told about Latinos and immigrants, so that is a clear example of what we've seen take hold," she said.
I think Murguia is one of the savviest leaders in the country. At a time when much of the Civil Rights superstructure embraces failed separatist ideas and separatist figures of the past, seizing on all that is wrong about the United States, its history, its founders, its declining white majority, Murguia is unabashedly integrationist.
Anyone left, right or center looking for a way out of the progressive-right, woke-left era of doom and gloom would do well to watch the interview Murguia gave at Fundación Consejo España (Spain Council Foundation) in Madrid in 2019.
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She is a person of real warmth and uplift, who understands that optimism is a more powerful motivator than the anger and resentment that marks so much of American life today.
“Our mission is to empower the Latino community socially, economically and politically to open the doors to the American Dream so that every Latino can have an opportunity to succeed,” she said in her Madrid Q&A.
“There’s a common set of values that also bonds our communities. A strong sense of family, often times a strong sense of faith, and a strong sense of community (that makes us) ... part of something bigger than ourselves.
“We try to ... leverage that bond to advocate for policies and changes that are in the best interest of our community, but also are in the best interest of our country.”
Concerns about the border are real, legitimate
I understand the impulse to push back against words like “invasion” and “attack.” Those words are freighted with xenophobia. But the U.S.-Mexico border is an issue of serious concern and not just for white Republicans.
The number of migrants encountered at the border this year is on pace “to smash previous records,” reports USA Today.
“Overall, 1.947 million migrants were encountered at the border this fiscal year from October 2021 through July. That number is already higher than the 1.7 million reported all of last fiscal year, then the highest number on record.”
Further, Mexico is a deeply destabilized nation, with cartel violence spinning out of control, so much so that the U.S. Consulate has begun warning Americans against travel in border communities such as Baja, Calif., reports ABC-Channel 7 in Los Angeles.
“At least 11 people have been killed, stores have been set on fire, and cars and buses have been hijacked,” reports the news station.
“Some cities, like Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, are faced with nearly deserted streets as residents are afraid to move around.
"If you have no business coming down in Tijuana please stay at home," said Roger Blacksmith of Tijuana. "I mean there's a big concern for public safety because we don't really know what's going to happen next."
Mexico’s democracy is in peril, reports the American Council on Foreign relations, as Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, lays waste to democratic norms.
Mexico's government is highly destabilized
AMLO has “flouted basic divisions of power between the three branches of government” and “has weaponized the judicial branch with politicized investigations and prosecutions. His attorney general threatened to incarcerate more than two dozen professors and scientists in the notorious maximum-security prison Reclusorio Norte.”
So bad is the situation, The Economist Intelligence Unit index of democracy, recently downgraded the nation from “flawed democracy” to “hybrid regime.”
As the Biden administration loses control of the border, it is ripe for criticism for failing to understand the destabilizing forces pressing against it. The issue is an inescapable and legitimate point of attack for Republican politicians in border states like Arizona and across the U.S.
How will UnidosUS avoid appearing partisan?
It’s going to be interesting to watch how UnidosUS rolls out Count on Us, pushing back against the border talking points and campaign ads of Arizona Republican candidates.
Will they be able to do that and still maintain the distance required to maintain their 501(c)(3) status?
IRS rules on such nonprofits are fairly strict on these matters, as UnidosUS no doubt understands.
Those rules make clear, “Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”
An IRS online course for charities points out that it is “illegal to use resources to influence an election” or “raise an issue on which the candidates disagree.”
At her press conference, Murguia seemed to be creating some distance from the election. "(Count on Us) is really about telling the story of who we are for the good of the future of Arizona and the good of the future of this country.
"This isn't just about politics. This campaign really can contribute to the way people see the Latino community and really make sure that people understand that we're important contributors."
Campaign's timing certainly appears political
But if it “isn’t just about politics,” isn't it fair to observe that it’s at least somewhat about politics?
Making it look very much like politics is the timing. Organizers say they are getting the jump on Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), but the launch comes on the cusp of the general election and only a month after UnidosUS announced it was joining forces with Mi Familia Vota to “create the most powerful Latino civic engagement and democracy operation in the nation.”
Mi Familia Vota is a nakedly partisan organization, a 501(c)(4), which gives it greater leeway to be political. One visit to its website quickly reveals a left-wing and partisan point of view:
The Supreme Court ruling vacating Roe v. Wade is described as “politically motivated” and “wrong.”
The California Democratic governor’s recall victory is described as “a repudiation of anti-Latino hate.”
The Texas Republican governor’s order to return migrants to the southern border is described as a “horrifying political stunt.”
Bear in mind not all Latinos are progressives
This no doubts reflects the attitudes of a great many Latinos and Hispanics, but as Janet Murguia is wont to point out, the Latino community is not a monolith.
Proof of that grows by the day and is very much on display this week in an op-ed Thursday in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. House, wrote about “why many Hispanics are increasingly identifying with the Republican Party.”
“Hispanics want a free country in which they can prosper as they choose,” she wrote.
“These big government programs and the advocacy of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt,) and radical Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who appear to be driving the Democrat agendas, scare folks who are familiar with the failures of socialism. Hispanics have seen enough of the false promises of socialism, enough of the disasters ushered in by the elite ‘vanguard of the proletariat.’
“They’ve heard it all before. Give up a little freedom today in return for a little more government promises of more welfare and ‘free’ largesse. Then give up a little more freedom tomorrow, and the next day, until the public has no more freedom to give in return for largesse that never quite materializes. The promises are illusory, but the loss of freedom is all too real.”
She also had this to say about border politics: “Democrats pander to Hispanic American citizens, believing they automatically favor lax immigration enforcement, so that a virtual non-border will appeal to Hispanic voters.”
The fight over race can't be waged long term
I want to see UnidosUS succeed. I want to see Janet Murguia and people like her become more prominent on the American stage.
Something she points out often is that Latino’s are intermarrying at huge rates.
Many of America’s families are becoming more Latin. Mine is. I have an adopted daughter who is Latino. I have an older daughter who married a Latino. My nieces and nephews are marrying Latinos. Half-a-dozen of the couples we consider good friends are either mixed or all-Latino marriages.
California is leading us to the future, where virtually one-third of new marriages are mixed-race in cities such as San Diego, Stockton and Santa Barbara, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Eventually we won’t be able to fight about race, because nobody will be able to sort us all out.
I’ll relish that day.
Until then, I hope UnidoUs is able do what many American institutions have failed to do, resist hard-core partisan politics for the real work that can lift us out of our national malaise.
Anyone can do bareknuckle politics. Exceptional people raise our sights higher.
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UnidosUs takes risk with its campaign to dispel fears of Latinos
