A wave of young Hispanic voters is about to hit the polls, leaders of the community said today.
Of Latinos under age 18 living in the United States, 93 percent are citizens and a half-million of those will reach the legal voting age each year for the next 20 years, said officials of the National Council of La Raza, a leading civil-rights advocacy group for Latinos. That will further enhance the political clout of what is already the largest minority community in the country -- and, NCLR leaders said, produce a backlash against politicians who engage in rhetoric that many Hispanics have come to feel is aimed at them.
“Demonizing immigrants is a losing strategy,” said NCLR chief lobbyist Clarissa Martinez De Castro.
http://nationaljournal.com/politics/the-rising-hispanic-tide-20110304