Mexicans Look to Jews as Model for Fighting Back Against Attacks by Donald Trump
Donald Trump Image by Getty Images
Mexican immigrants are looking to an unlikely model in their fight to push back against attacks by Donald Trump: Jews.
Leaders of the Hispanic community are stepping up ties with Jewish groups, which they view as a potential paradigm for increasing their influence and political heft, especially as they have come under withering attack by the Republican presidential candidate.
“The Mexican community needs to polish its image to the point that “there has to be some sort of cost if you attack Mexico or Mexican Americans,” Dina Siegel Vann, who is Mexican-American and Jewish and an official at the American Jewish Committee, told Politico. “The moment that there’s attacks, that Mexicans are called rapists, there has to be some sort of national outrage.”
The growing ties come as Mexico’s government pursues a public relations campaign designed to convince America that its southern neighbor is an indispensible partner — like Israel.
The AJC has been a key partner in the Mexican diaspora’s surging interest in political activism, a push that dovetails with its own interest in increasing Latin American outreach.
There are of course huge differences betweeen Mexicans and Jews in America. There are about 6 million Jews and more than 33 million Mexicans in the U.S. But most Jews have been here for several generations, speak English and have legal status. They also have significant experience navigating the American political system.
Mexican immigrants, on the other hand, are newcomers with major economic, political and cultural hurdles to overcome.
The budding partnership is driven by Trump’s harsh attacks on Mexicans, whom he has branded “rapists” and criminals, and his vow to build a border wall to block illegal immigration. He drew more fire when he questioned the fairness of a federal judge who happens to be of Mexican descent.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
