COMMENTARY: President earning support of Hispanic community

I had the honor of sitting with President Donald Trump at a roundtable discussion during his visit to Nevada last weekend where I saw firsthand his commitment to the Latino community in America as he met with Hispanic business leaders from throughout Nevada.

In the 2016 presidential race, many of the television talking heads and so-called political “experts” predicted that Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide. They also assured the public that Mr. Trump would lose the Latino vote by numbers never seen before for a Republican candidate. They were wrong; then-candidate Trump won the election and, according to exit polls, secured almost 30 percent of the Latino vote.

Today, Latino support for President Trump has grown stronger and broader. There are multiple reasons for this phenomenon.

President Trump’s policies have benefited Latinos across the board. Before the pandemic, President Trump delivered the lowest unemployment for Latinos in recorded history, the highest homeownership among Latinos in a decade, extra­ordinary growth in Hispanic businesses and a broad range of benefits in security, education and religious freedoms.

All of these topics were mentioned during the first Latinos for Trump roundtable in Nevada last Sunday. In the meeting, we heard about some of the Hispanic community’s real concerns. In a more intimate setting, President Trump listened to some of these concerns and talked about the solutions his administration has implemented and will continue to provide if he wins in November.

President Trump has shown great interest in engaging the Hispanic community. As is a personal characteristic of his, his actions have followed his intentions, “a promise made, promise kept” — a quote that has been proven right with this president. President Trump has conveyed his interest in building bridges with Latinos.

In July, President Trump created, by executive order, the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative and the President’s Advisory Commission on Hispanic Prosperity. Being a Nevadan and as one of the commissioners to that initiative, we discussed paths and ways on how Hispanic Americans can achieve that prosperity. We also discussed education, with school choice and vocational education, as our central pedestal to achieving our goals during the roundtable discussion with the president.

Finally, we expressed our concerns to the president regarding security in our communities and the vicious war on police enforcement, perpetrated by some groups with political interests. During this roundtable, I asked President Trump to keep fighting for law enforcement in our communities. I told him that our country suffers when law enforcement is undermined and when anarchy dominates our streets. I said to him, “The law and order you propose are what we want in our states, especially in our community, the Hispanic community. We are directly impacted by the uncertainty of not having a law-and-order system. We want law and order.”

President Trump closed the meeting by committing to continue fighting for the prosperity and the well-being of all Americans and to continue to champion his America First plan, which includes Latinos and all minority groups. As a small-business owner, a father and a proud Latinos for Trump Advisory Board member, I feel proud to have participated in this roundtable. We all felt the support and the commitment from the president.

— Jesus Marquez sits on the National Advisory Board of Latinos for Trump.