Latinos Unidos to gain voters, political power

Several local Hispanic groups announced on Friday that they're joining forces to get more Hispanic residents to apply for U.S. citizenship and register to vote before next year's elections in hopes of increasing their political clout.

"Our political power has not grown at the pace our population has," said Miguel Barrientos, who spoke at a morning news conference to announce the formation of Latinos Unidos, a group that includes Hispanics in Politics, El Mundo newspaper, United Immigrant Families of Nevada and others. "It's time we made an impact."

Barrientos and others say Hispanics have yet to achieve the political clout commensurate with their numbers, and that should change.

"We always get crumbs," he said. "We want a piece of the pie, and we are going to take it."

The group hopes to take advantage of the disappointment over failed federal immigration reform and a recent surge in new citizens to register thousands of new voters before January's Nevada presidential caucuses.

"It's a chance for us to be known or to be forgotten forever," said Eddie Escobedo, publisher of El Mundo. "The only way we are going to gain political power is to make a big showing at this caucus."

Soon-to-be citizen David Cordon was way ahead of the folks from Latinos Unidos.

Cordon, who was getting help filing his citizenship application on Friday at the Citizenship Project, said he was looking forward to voting in the next election.

"I have lived in the United States a long, long time," said the 47-year-old Guatemala native who has been in the country nearly three decades. "I love this country. It was time."

Cordon also wanted to get his application in today because the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen will jump from $400 to $675 on Monday.

The number of local and nationwide citizenship applications has skyrocketed recently in part because of the upcoming fee increase and the debate over immigration reform, according to federal immigration officials.

In June, 1,368 people applied to become citizens at the Las Vegas office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, officials with the agency said. That's more than twice the number who applied in June 2006.

Numbers for July won't be available until next month. But officials say they expect the number of applicants to be about the same as in June.

The number of those applicants who are Hispanic was unavailable Friday evening.

But, Barrientos believes, "since the failure of immigration reform, the amount of Latinos applying for citizenship has greatly increased."

That could translate into a lot of new voters.

At least a quarter of Nevada's population is Hispanic. According to the Clark County Election Department, Hispanics make up a much smaller percentage of registered voters. In recent elections, only about 11 percent of local registered voters were Hispanic.

The numbers are approximate because they are based on whether voters have Hispanic surnames.

Andres Ramirez, director of outreach for the Nevada Democratic Party, said the figures also might be misleading because a number of Nevada Hispanics aren't eligible to vote. They are either too young or noncitizens.

"There are not enough Hispanics who can register to vote to reflect the strength of the overall population," he said. "However, among those Hispanics who can register, there is a significant registration rate."

Latinos Unidos hopes to increase the number of eligible Hispanic voters through public awareness campaigns, educational outreach and citizenship drives.

Several other local organizations, including ACORN, Hermandad Mexicana and the Service Employees International Union, Local 1107, have been hosting a series of citizenship workshops to help people apply before the fee increases go into effect.

The last such workshop is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at Rafael Rivera Community Center, 2900 Stewart Ave. The cost for the workshop is $30. For more information, call 386-8849.