12 NOV 2022
Cortez-Masto Victory Shows the Power of the Latino Vote, Makes Mandate Clear to Congress: Protect Dreamers
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Cortez-Masto declared victory today against Republican candidate Adam Laxalt who boasted through his campaign his active efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and put Dreamers on a path to deportation. In a tight race to the finish line, the Latino vote also proved critical in favor of the incumbent senator.
Following the news, Sergio Gonzales, Executive Director of the Immigration Hub, stated, “Nevada is the story of how crucial it is to galvanize the Latino vote and present a clear vision and contrast against anti-immigrant extremism. Laxalt made no secret of his deliberate intention to deport Dreamers, build a wall and vilify migrants at the border. Nevada’s response to Laxalt: not in our state.
“Senator Cortez-Masto has long been a champion for Dreamers, culinary and farm workers, undocumented immigrants, children and families seeking refuge, and sensible immigration reform policies. She recognizes what Nevada has longed valued throughout its history: generations of immigrants who have made the state vibrant and its economy thrive.
“Her record speaks for itself, and it’s what set her apart from her opponent on Election Day. It’s what Latino voters saw in the senator. Their decisive vote is a clear-cut mandate: as the conservative courts prepare to strike down DACA, the time is now to protect Dreamers. We are confident that Senator Cortez-Masto will work with her colleagues to urgently get a bipartisan deal done to ensure that no other politician - not Laxalt or anyone else - will threaten to upend the lives of immigrant youth.”
Adam Laxalt Proved Too Extreme for Nevada
GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt actively campaigned against DACA— touting his repeated efforts to end the program and put Dreamers on a path to deportation in campaign ads. He doubled down on his promise to continue building Trump’s wall and attacked Cortez-Masto and President Biden for a supposed “border crisis”, overrun with “criminals” and drugs. He has long been to the right of other GOP candidates in the state and clashed with former Republican Governor Brian Sandoval on immigration. In 2015, in one of his first moves as Nevada Attorney General, he joinedother Republican attorney generals in challenging Obama's executive order expanding the DACA program to extend deportation relief to the parents of Dreamers.
“Laxalt is clearly a student of Stephen Miller - and it served him no good,” stated Beatriz Lopez, Chief Political and Communications Officer for the Immigration Hub. “Of all places to wage a war against Dreamers and border communities, Nevada was not it. Consistently, our research has found that Nevada voters, especially Latino voters, do not subscribe to the Miller school of thought. On the contrary, they support a path to citizenship; they support candidates who will fight to keep families together and who acknowledge the legacy of coming to this country and working hard to build a good life; and they reject wasting valuable tax dollars on walls and failed policies of the past. And that’s why Adam Laxalt lost.”
A national poll of over 12,000 voters found that voters across all racial and ethnic groups, especially Latino voters (82%), including 77% of Nevada Latinos, want Congress to take up protections for Dreamers in the lame duck. By more than a 2-to-1 margin, (68% to 32%) voters say they support Congress taking immediate action to provide permanent legal status to DACA recipients and Dreamers. The Immigration Hub tested a Citizens for Sanity ad, which attacked Democrats on the border, among Nevada voters and found that the message created a backlash effect with critical voters.
Cortez-Masto Stands Up for Immigrants, Shares Her Immigrant Story and Calls on Republicans to Show Courage: Cortez-Masto kicked off last year sharing her family’s immigration story, spearheaded calls for the administration to fix the immigration system and backlogs for green card applicants and DACA recipients, pushed for ‘meaningful, humane immigration reform’ and a legislative solution for DACA recipients, denounced border patrol’s inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants, met with immigrant rights groups and Dreamers, recognized immigrant contributions, spearheaded direct talks with the Biden administration to protect migrants, and called on Republicans to ‘show some spine’ on immigration.
In the last month of the campaign, Cortez-Masto hosted roundtables with Dreamers, recommitting to deliver a permanent solution for them in response to the devastating news of a federal court ruling that pushed DACA closer to termination.
###
The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.