By: Gabriel León
Growing up in the U.S., I along with many of my Latino peers have felt a lack of representation in all sectors of our society. We are a people that more or less hide in the shadows. We work the jobs that go unnoticed, we keep to ourselves, and we live in our own communities. Sometimes we do all of these things out of fear of being sent back to our broken homelands, or we do these things because there are so many of us here now that there is no need to assimilate. We can speak our Spanish and eat our food with no problems, but even if we do not need to assimilate anymore, our lack of representation in society has persisted.
In no place is our sore lack of representation as obvious as it is in our government. We make up just about 20 percent of the U.S. population, with about 63 million Latinos living in the U.S., and only two percent of elected officials identifying as Latino. Most of the elected Latinos come from states with a large Latino population, such as Texas, Florida, or New York. They also represent the Latino-American demographic who are of either Mexican or Cuban descent. Historically, the most popular countries Latino immigrants emigrate from are Mexico and Cuba.
However, Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, and by 2060, one in every four people living in the U.S. will identify as Latino. With this growth in numbers, we can only hope for more representation in our government in states where Latinos represent a major portion of the population and in politically appointed positions.
Given Donald Trump’s staunchly anti-immigration rhetoric, it would be reasonable for one to expect that there would be no representation from our community in his appointees. Still, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, of Mexican descent, was appointed to lead the Department of Labor under a 67-32 vote. Marco Rubio, of Cuban descent, was appointed to lead the Department of State under a unanimous vote. Both are rather impressive feats given the struggles of other nominees to get approved by the Senate. Rubio’s confirmation makes him the highest-ranking Hispanic official in the history of the United States and the first Latino Secretary of State.
The fact that a Latino is being trusted to run U.S. foreign policy is something to be proud of. However, it’s not that Rubio was appointed, but rather who did it that raises eyebrows.
Since Trump began his bid for the presidency in 2016, he has constantly attacked the Latino community through negative rhetoric. He has often played into stereotypes that have drawn an unwarranted fear from his base that does not know better or does not care to know better when making their judgments about us as a people.
One of his biggest promises during his first campaign was to build the wall, and since being re-elected, his rhetoric has only gotten more extreme, invoking acts from the 18th century and defying federal judges to wrongfully deport migrants living in the United States.
So, why would someone who has portrayed such an anti-Latino rhetoric appoint Marco Rubio, a Latino born to Cuban immigrant parents in Miami, to be his Secretary of State?
The answer is quite simple. Rubio sold his political prowess to conform to this new Trumpist Republican Party. Let’s not forget that in 2016, when Rubio ran for president, he had a fairly moderate campaign as a typical Republican. However, since Trump was elected, we have seen an extreme radical shift to neo-conservatism that, in order for people to move up in the party, you must conform to Trump’s agenda. If not, your voice will not be heard. In order for Rubio to get this appointment, he had to conform.
A clear example of this shift lies in his stance with Ukraine. Before Trump, Rubio strongly supported Ukraine, but after Trump’s distasteful reception of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that showed nothing but pro-Russia rhetoric, Rubio showed his support for Trump. He even went as far to say that he was thankful for Trump’s actions and that Zelenskyy should apologize for “wasting their time.” This is coming from somebody who used to be a hawk, or strong supporter, of Ukraine.
Given that Rubio had to essentially forget who he was and change many of his views in order to get appointed, the Latino voters that I had conversed with regarding his appointment expressed a sense of pride in his appointment as a Latino, but also feelings of being let down after he supported Trump and his anti-Latino policies. Rubio conformed — there is no way around it —ultimately letting Trump dictate his stances.
For these reasons, his appointment cannot be seen as a victory for Latinos because Rubio made an alliance with a president who couldn't care less for our people. As amazing as it is to see a Latino in such a prestigious position, we can only wish it could have come under a different administration.
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