AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File.
In November of 2020, Latino voters were crucial to helping Joe Biden win the presidency. They cemented his victories in swing states like Nevada, and helped turn traditionally red states like Georgia and Arizona blue.
During the campaign, Biden made a long list of commitments to Latinx communities. He promised to invest in healthcare for Latinos and increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. He promised to expand financial aid for low-income college students and work with Congress to create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He promised that he would crack down on pollution in communities of color, and fight climate change.
So, on the eve of Biden’s inauguration, Latino USA reached out to young Latinos who would be personally impacted by a few of these policy changes, to hear what promises they hope Biden will keep—and what they hope Biden will do that he hasn’t committed to yet.
We speak with Virginia Palacios, a 9th-generation Tejana whose culture is threatened by increasingly hot, dry weather. We also hear from Andrea Anaya, an undocumented Salvadoran-American college student in D.C. ,who’s applying for DACA for the first time and who worked to help get Biden elected. And we talk to Jennifer Lezan, an adjunct professor and young mom in Chicago whose staggering student debt has kept many of her goals out of reach.
And finally, we hear from some Latino USA listeners about their hopes for the incoming Biden administration.
This episode was produced by Alissa Escarce and Julia Rocha.
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Latino USA with Maria Hinojosa, produced by Futuro Media, is the longest-running Latino-focused program on U.S. public media.
