Latino USA teams up with Futuro Media’s political podcast In The Thick for a special post-election roundtable discussion. Hosts Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela are joined by Christian Paz, senior politics reporter for Vox, and Maya King, politics reporter for the New York Times.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats kept control of the Senate on Saturday, repelling Republican efforts to retake the chamber and making it harder for them to thwart President Joe Biden’s agenda. The fate of the House was still uncertain as the GOP struggled to pull together a slim majority there.

Latinos made up about one in 10 of the votes cast during the 2022 midterm elections, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Roughly 35 million Latinos were eligible to vote, representing 14 percent of the electorate.

Latinos were running for top offices across 44 states, with political observers predicting a “historic” rise in Latino representation. Some elections have yet to be called, but even still, Latinos have made clear gains throughout the government.

Tuesday’s midterm elections will likely see a “historic” rise in Latino representation in Congress, statewide offices, and state legislatures, according to a study conducted by NALEO. Latinos are running for top offices in 44 states.

Over the past decade, Latinos in Arizona responded to a tough crackdown on immigrants by building a turnout machine that helped propel Democrats to power, turning a longtime Republican stronghold into one of the most competitive states. The strength of that movement will be tested in Tuesday’s election, when Democrats are counting on strong support from Latinos to help them overcome concerns about the economy.

Fallout has begun over the decision by six Democratic senators to vote for a failed messaging amendment to preserve Title 42 restrictions on immigration, with Salvadoran-born state Rep. Maria Perez posting a video to express her indignation over Sen. Hassan’s vote in favor of the amendment.

Shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday, an anti-immigrant amendment by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) was rejected by a 50-50 vote. Lankford’s amendment called for the use of Obamacare money to fund Title 42, the Trump-era policy that bars immigrants from entering the United States based on public health concerns. 

Latinos make up a small percentage of Congress, a little over eight percent. Of the 45 Latinos currently serving in Congress, 18 (40 percent) represent states where abortion is banned, restricted, or expected to have restrictions soon

The Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment Act of 2022 or Eagle Act is an obscure bill, strangely bipartisan in the House with a low-key advocacy organization, Immigration Voice, that was on Capitol Hill this week for meetings with staffers for Republican Senators Josh Hawley (MO), Mike Lee (UT), and Tom Cotton (AR), plus the Senate offices of Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (NV) and Tina Smith (MN).

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) is expected to negotiate immigrant relief into a bipartisan immigration bill with Senate Republicans, but Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the most senior Latino in the Senate, expressed doubts that reform will pass this year.

On Friday, workers at the Dirksen Café were told by management that there would be mass layoffs on April 15. The workers tell Latino Rebels that 81 employees of Restaurant Associates, the federal contractor that runs the Senate cafeterias, are on the chopping block.

We are far from the justice Chávez sought.

Five Democratic senators introduced legislation on Monday that, if enacted, would provide sweeping relief to millions of immigrants in green card backlogs.

“Not just my staff,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) when asked about the student debt born by her team. “The people of Nevada, people I know, my family members. And I think there definitely is a concern we have in this country about high student debt.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has advised the Senate against including a third immigrant relief proposal presented by Senate Democrats in the Build Back Better Act.

New Immigrant Community Empowerment is planning an 11-day protest in Times Square calling on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) to include a pathway to citizenship in the Build Back Better Act, President Joe Biden’s social spending bill.

Unless Padilla or the other Latino senators take a hard line on immigration reform, a legalization bill is unlikely to be enacted during the current Congress.

“You don’t have to do what the Parliamentarian says,” a senior aide familiar with the Democrats’ budget reconciliation strategy told Latino Rebels on Wednesday. “It’s just practice to do so.”

While final data is still being gathered, experts say election results are expected to show that Latino voters turned out in record numbers nationwide.

“Like the population overall, Latinos are turning out to vote early in record numbers,” said NALEO Educational Fund CEO Arturo Vargas.