Latinas on the front lines of the fight against Trump in Arizona

If Democrats win in Arizona, they will owe it in part to the mobilization of a group of Hispanic activists propelled into politics by the anti-immigration laws of the 2010s. They have risen through the ranks, managed to get elected to local assemblies and put forward their demands for equality. Their struggle has flared up again 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. Less than a week before the crucial election nationally, but also in Arizona, where Republicans hold only 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 and all family members in the household to vote,” Gomez said. “Women are the true believers of the American dream.” Immigration, abortion, education: every woman has her own background and her own motivations. “We have to be grateful to all our mothers,” emphasized the activist. “They showed us how to fight.”

• Alejandra Gomez: “We will fight”

As a child living in California, Gomez had no idea that her father was living in the United States without papers. When Golden State voters passed Proposition 187 in 1994, a measure that denied social services to undocumented immigrants, the family chose to move to Arizona.

Years later, in 2010, Alejandra was caught 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 wanted. “Alex,” a political science student, decided there was no point in running away and founded LUCHA. As in California, Republicans also 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 elected Republicans passed a text – known as the Border Invasion Act – but it was blocked by Hobbs in March. To get around the governor's veto, they decided to put it directly before voters on November 5th. It is “Proposition 314,” an initiative that brings back memories of humiliation and racial profiling in the community. “The Republicans were very afraid of losing power. They used the playbook that has always existed and demonized our communities.” Gomez denounced. “They needed an issue to drive away their base. And that was immigration.”

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