Copyright
by
Ismael Cuevas
2019
The Thesis Committee for Ismael Cuevas
Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Thesis:
Latinx Political Empowerment in Chicago during the Trump Era:
An analysis of interviews from Latinx elected officials
APPROVED BY
SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:
Néstor P. Rodríguez, Supervisor
Laura G. Gutiérrez, Co-Supervisor
Latinx Political Empowerment in Chicago during the Trump Era:
An analysis of interviews from Latinx elected officials
by
Ismael Cuevas
Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Arts
The University of Texas at Austin
December 2019
Dedication
I would not be here if it wasn’t for you taking that risk 30 years ago when you decided to cross the U.S-Mexico border and carry me across the desert in your arms. All your dreams, sacrifices, and pains were my inspiration as I completed this thesis. Má, your fortaleza is unmatchable. Absolutely no one will ever take that away from you. You have shined the light on my greyest days in graduate school and reminded me that I deserved to be there. “Mijo, no le tengas miedo” came from your soothing voice as I panicked my last few days in Austin not knowing if I would ever go back to graduate school. While I felt a burden for not completing this project on time, you reminded me multiple times, “tú puedes.” Your work ethic to overcome any obstacle has undoubtedly encouraged me to strive to be the best version of myself, no matter what barrier is in front of me. Thank you má!
“¿Ya acabaste la tesis?” was one of the most nerve wracking things you ever asked me.
Since I left, I have avoided any conversation related to this thesis. I would tell you, “ya no me preguntes, yo te digo cuando la acabe.” Pá, I have finally finished. You began training me for this back when you taught me the scientific method in third grade. You set the example of persevering in a system that wasn’t meant for us. I will never forget the day we packed my belongings and drove south on I-35, the same highway which would take us from Chicago to
Zacatecas. Who would have thought that I would be studying a few blocks away from the artery that would take us all to the motherland? Your never ending support propped me up on those days that I thought I would never be able to finish. I cannot thank you enough. Gracias.
Ale and Alberto, you have been each been supportive in more ways than you think.
Whether it was Ale telling me, “Dude, just finish it” or Alberto making sure I was fed and comfortable at home. Thank you for letting me borrow your laptop. Writing this thesis from the
comfort of my cramped closet is was a pain to say the least. Both of you took many actions over the last few years that convinced me to continue and finish this process. Now it is both of your turn. You have all my support. Thank you.
All my tíos, tías, primos, and primas who welcomed me home with loving, open arms; your cariño fed my soul on those weekends when I took the bus from Austin to Zacatecas. Thank you for being part of this adventure with me and for always encouraging me to be a rebel. Mi abuelito Pime and my abuelita Jesusita, you always took care of me when I didn’t take care of myself. Our conversations about our family legacy and our contributions to our patrimonio are forever lasting. Se les agradece todo lo que han hecho por mí. Gracias.
Finally, this is dedicated to nuestra gente. Our ancestors have carved a better world for us and it is up to us to continue this legacy of resistencia. This is for all of you who grew up on the south sides of the world. Our ancestors prayed for us to be successful. I was guided by the worldview of lxs zapatistas. They say, tenemos que construir un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos. Let’s build that world.
Acknowledgements
To Dr. Néstor P. Rodríguez. If it wasn't for you, I would have just quit and never turned this in. Your patience, wisdom, and guidance are truly remarkable. Thank you for helping me accomplish a dream.
To Dr. Laura G. Gutiérrez for understanding my situation and dedicating her valuable time in supporting me to get through the graduate school pipeline. Se lo agradezco.
To Dr. Emilio Zamora. You took me under your wing during my time at UT and taught the beauty of studying nuestra raza. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach.
To Natasha S., Alberto G., and Luis G. and everyone at CMAS/MALS. You welcomed me to campus con brazos abiertos during the fall of 2011, and I felt the same way when you welcomed me back in April 2019. You went out of your way to see me succeed. You exemplify the slogan, “What starts at UT-Austin changes the world.” Thank you for providing the support to hundreds of students, including myself, who will be game changers in our society.
To Jessica T. You dealt with all my self-doubt but always reminded me that I could accomplish anything with discipline. You were my pillar during these arduous times. I share this success with you. No hay suficiente espacio, ni palabras para agradecerte por todo lo que significaste en esta odisea de la vida. Gracias.
For my homies. Francisco you became my brother in Austin. Thank you for taking care of me. Jonathan and Alonzo you were my ride or die then and now. Jose G. and Esther triunfamos como paisas. Jose C. you always kept it real with me. Joe T., we made it bro.
For Maribel. You challenged me and taught me so much about life. You adopted me on those days when I really needed a home away from home. I cannot thank you enough.
vi
To Jessica DH. Our adventures are unforgettable. Your advice on life was crucial for my growth. Thank you for being there for me. We out here!
To Nathalia O. I will never forget that day we went to take the GRE. You reminded me why we even began the grad school journey. Tus palabras me ayudaron a volar y terminar esta trayectoria que comenzamos juntos. Gracias por todo.
To Alexandra A. Your editing skills are on fire! Thank you for going through the arduous process of editing this thesis and rising up to the occasion. Completing this on time would not have been possible if it wasn’t for your feedback and dedication.
To Ben Márquez and Jimmy Casas Klausen. Thank you believing in my academic process. You went above and beyond in supporting me through the graduate school process.
To all my mentors at the UW-Madison McNair Scholars program. You ignited that passion I had for contributing to my community via academia. Thank you.
To all my homies, you know who you are, for always pushing me to be my best. To all my roomates over the past decade who have always been my family. Thank you.
To Susan Sadlowski Garza. You saw potential in me and allowed me to apply all the knowledge I learned at the CMAS/MALS program at UT on a daily basis. Thank you for this once in a lifetime opportunity.
To all the elected officials interviewed in this study and their staff members who are ensuring that Chicagoans have the best quality of life. Thank you.
Abajo y la izquierda.
vii
Abstract
Latinx Political Empowerment in Chicago during the Trump Era:
An analysis of interviews from Latinx elected officials
Ismael Cuevas, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2019
Supervisor: Néstor P. Rodríguez
Co-Supervisor: Laura G. Gutiérrez
As the Latinx population grows and Latinxs are gaining political representation at every level of government in Chicago and throughout the state of Illinois there must be an analysis to assess if representation is translating into empowerment. The purpose of the study is to understand Latinx political empowerment during the President Trump era in urban neighborhoods from the perspective of Latinx elected officials from city, county, and state levels in the Chicago metropolitan region. This study focuses on the perspectives of ten elected officials — five women and five men — who belong to the Baby Boomer, Generation X, and
Millennial generations and are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Guatemalan descent. Major themes include political representation, Census 2020, immigration rhetoric and policy, and accessibility to local government.
viii
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ...... 1
Purpose of Study ...... 1
Statement of Problem ...... 2
Research Questions ...... 3
Chapter 2: Literature Review ...... 4
Background ...... 4
Political Empowerment ...... 4
Chicago Latinx Politics ...... 5
Interview Questions ...... 7
Chapter 3: Research Method...... 9
Data Collection ...... 9
Setting ...... 9
Participant Criteria ...... 10
Participant Demographics ...... 11
Chapter 4: Findings ...... 14
Theme 1: Census 2020 - The Effects of the “Citizenship Questions” and an Undercount on Political Empowerment ...... 14
Theme 2: “From Fear to Fighting Back” - A Response to Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric and Policy ...... 19
Fear and Distrust in Government ...... 20
Fear as a Tool of Political Empowerment ...... 25
Theme 3: Open Government: Accessibility and Transparency Initiatives ...... 29
Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion ...... 41
Discussion ...... 41
Conclusion ...... 44
ix
Appendix ...... 48
Informed Consent Form ...... 48
Works Cited ...... 52
x
List of Tables
Table 1: Demographics of Latinx Elected Officials Interviewed...... 11
xi
Chapter 1: Introduction
“It’s a new day in Chicago. I’m pleased by the Latino gains,” Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum — the only Latino public policy organization in Illinois — told NBC News after the historic Chicago municipal runoff election on April 2, 2019.1 When polling locations closed at 7pm across the city, Chicago voters paid close attention to the results reported by the Chicago Board of Elections from all 50 wards in the city. Late in the evening voters made history by electing the first Black woman and first openly gay mayor, Lori
Lightfoot. Voters also elected a record number of Latinxs to serve as alderpersons2 in Chicago’s
City Council for the 2019-2023 cycle. Latinxs in Chicago now hold 11 out of 50 aldermanic seats, composing 22 percent of the council.
In 2018-2019, Latinx also made gains in elections at the state and county level. Three millennial Latinx candidates won in the Illinois general elections to become Illinois state representatives. At the county level, one millennial Latina won to become a Cook County commissioner.3 These gains in Latinx political representation in the Chicagoland area come amid the xenophic and racist atmosphere that U.S. President Donald J. Trump created during the 2016
Presidential campaign and continues to perpetuate as he completes his first term.
Purpose of the Study
As the Latinx population grows and Latinxs are gaining political representation at every level of government in Chicago and throughout the state of Illinois there must be an analysis to
1 Aviles, Gwen. “Latino Aldermen Make History on Chicago City Council.” NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-aldermen-make-history-chicago-city-council-n990601 2 In this paper, alderman, aldermen, alderwoman, and alderperson will be used interchangeably. 3 Smith, Ryan. “Meet the Trio of Young Latino ‘Berniecrats’ Who Shocked the Chicago Political Establishment on Election Night.” Chicago Reader. https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/03/23/meet-the-trio-of-young-latino-berniecrats- who-shocked-the-chicago-political-establishment-on-election-night
1 assess if representation is translating into empowerment. The purpose of the study is to understand Latinx4 political empowerment during the President Trump era in urban neighborhoods from the perspective of Latinx elected officials representing city, county, and state levels in the Chicago metropolitan region. This study focuses on the perspectives of ten elected officials — five women and five men — who belong to the Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial generations and are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Guatemalan descent. Major themes include; political representation, Census 2020, immigration rhetoric and policy, and accessibility to local government.
Statement of the Problem
Although researchers have examined civic engagement organizations, independent political organizations,5 immigrant rights organizations, and Mexican hometown associations in
Chicago (Bada 2014, Vonderlack-Navarro 2010, Alarcon 2005), they have missed a component on the perspectives of Latinx elected officials in Chicago. A dissertation was published in 2007 that evaluated Latinx political empowerment between 1975 and 2003; but it only interviews two
Latino elected officials.6 Another dissertation was published in 2019 that examines intra-group divisions among Latino political leaders in Waukegan, IL and contextualizes the findings through a comparison with Latino politics in nearby Chicago.7 The rise of millennials and
Generation X officials elected at the national level8 was similarly seen in Chicago, and at the
4 In this paper Latinx, Latino, and Latina will be used interchangeably. 5 Cuevas, Ismael. 2010. “Latino Political Organizations in Chicago: The Independent Political Organization of the 22nd Ward and the Rise of Latino Political Representation.” Concientización: A Journal of Chican@ & Latin@ Experience and Thought 5(1 and 2): 41–50. 6 Dominguez, Jaime. 2007. “Latinos in Chicago: A Strategy towards Political Empowerment (1975– 2003).” University of Illinois at Chicago. Dissertation. 7 Guridy, Vanessa. 2019. “Juntos pero no revueltos: Latino Political Participation in Context.” University of Illinois at Chicago. Dissertation. 8 Desilver, Drew. 2018. “Millennials, Gen X Increase Their Ranks in the House, Especially among Democrats.” https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/21/millennials-gen-x-increase-their-ranks-in- the-house-especially-among-democrats/
2 time of writing this thesis, there has been no study about millennial Latinx officials elected in
Chicago. Latinxs have become the largest minority demographic group in Chicago after 2017 and their political behavior must be studied.
Research Questions
As the Latinx voting population continues to increase in number, whether it’s due to naturalization of immigrants or because U.S.-born Latinx citizens are reaching voting age,
Latinxs are gaining political influence in the Chicagoland9 region.10 Latinxs now make up an established demographic in the city, both in the size of the population and in the time they’ve spent settled in Chicago — well over 100 years. As incoming millennial and Gen-X Latinx elected officials make up a growing portion of the city’s political representation, a new set of questions rise in regards to Latinx political empowerment. What does Latinx political empowerment look like in the Trump era? What perspectives will millennial and Gen-X Latinx elected officials bring in comparison to other generations? Will Latinx representation lead to an increase of political empowerment in the city, county, and state level?
9 In this paper Chicago will used when elected officials govern solely within the boundaries of Chicago. Chicagoland will be used when elected officials govern in Chicago and their districts extend into adjacent Chicago suburbs. 10 McClell, Edward. 2018. “Latinos Could Be Chicago’s New Nexus of Political Power.” Chicago Magazine. http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/August-2018/Latinos-Could-Be-Chicagos-New-Nexus-of- Political-Power/
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Background
Latinxs are now the largest ethnic group within the boundaries of the city of Chicago. In
2016, 32.6 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white, 29.7 percent was Latino, 29.4 percent were African-American, 6.3 percent were Asian, and 2 percent were other racial/ethnic groups in the city of Chicago.11 In Chicago, there are 803,476 Latinos and 2,099,428 Latinos in the Chicagoland metropolitan region.12 Projections indicate that the U.S. population is on pace to be a majority-minority plurality by 2045, in which, no single racial or ethnic group constitutes a majority but people of color, collectively, outnumbering whites.13 By 2030, projections indicate a further browning of America as the number of Latinx people is expected to outgrow all other racial and ethnic groups by increasing nearly 5 percent to occupy 21.1 percent of the population.14 The Latinx population growth at the local and national level will certainly have an impact on their political representation.
Political Empowerment
Political empowerment is the extent to which a group, in this case Latinxs, has achieved significant representation and influence in political decision making. Political empowerment for people of color in the United States is also tied to political incorporation. Political incorporation
11 United States Census Bureau, American Fact Finder. 2015. “2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimate.” http://factfinder2.census.gov. 12 Ibid. 13 See Frey, William H. 2018. “The US Will Become ‘Minority White’ in 2045, Census Projects.” https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045- census-projects/ (citing 2018 U.S. Census statistics that suggest the country will be “minority white” in 2045). 14 See Population Div., U.S. Census Bureau, Projected Race and Hispanic Origin: Main Projection Series for the United States, 2017–2060 (2018), https://www2.census.gov/ programs- surveys/popproj/tables/2017/2017-summary-tables/np2017-t4.xlsx (on file with the Columbia Law Review) (providing projected population statistics based on race and Hispanic origin); see also Vespa et al., supra note 4, at 7 tbl.3 (projecting population by race and ethnicity at 2030 and at 2060).
4 refers to a political condition whereby a minority group, e.g., Latinxs, has mobilized and/or coalesced with another non-Latinx group to successfully place coalition members or supporters in local political office (Browning et al, 1984). Political incorporation creates the conditions necessary for the political empowerment of a minority population (Regalado and Martinez
1991). Political empowerment in this study represents an attempt by Latinx elected officials to put forward policies that will not only diminish the socioeconomic disparities between people of color and whites in the urban context; but also address matters of resource commensurability between minorities and non-minorities (Kamig and Welch, 1980).
The internal process where individuals choose to participate when they feel their participation is likely to have an impact on politics is the mechanism of empowerment (Barreto,
Segura, and Woods 2004; Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Gay 2001). Several authors have used theoretical models that prioritize empowerment as a key determinant of voter turnout for Latinxs and African Americans (Barreto 2010, 96; Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Gay 2001, 590; Leighley
2001, 43; Tate 2003, 132). Mass sociopolitical participation should be the result of empowerment (Bobo and Gilliam 1990). When the empowerment hypothesis has been tested using office holding or candidacy as indicators for co-ethnic empowerment, the results have been mixed (Barreto 2007; Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Brace et al. 1995; Gay 2001; Griffin and Keane
2006; Henderson, Sekhon, and Titiunik 2013; Keele et al. 2014; Lublin 1997; Tate 2003). It is crucial to note that authors have avoided making assertions that elected officials of color are necessary to achieve empowerment (Fraga 2016).
Chicago Latinx Politics
Although Latinxs have been in Chicago for a century, Latinxs began to steadily gain political representation in municipal, county, and state government in the late 1980’s. In 1976,
5
Latinxs had zero elected officials in Illinois. By 1990 there were 36 Latinx elected officials.15
Sixteen years later, Illinois had 1 member of Congress, 11 state legislators, and 91 local officials throughout the state in 2006.16 By 2018, Illinois had 126 Latinx elected officials at the county and municipal level and 16 Latinx elected officials at the federal and state level.17
This growth of Latinx elected officials in Chicago and Illinois must be studied to better comprehend the current and future political incorporation of Latinxs in the region. Research on
Latinx politics has been largely concentrated in states with the highest Latinx populations and longest historical presence: the states of California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.
In Illinois, Latinxs make up 17 percent of the population, the 10th largest Hispanic statewide population in the United States.18 Consequently there are 951,000 eligible Latinx voters in Illinois — the sixth largest Latinx statewide eligible voter population nationally.
California ranks first with 6.9 million.19 As Latinxs have become the largest minority group in
Chicago, future research must focus on urban areas where municipal, county, and state district overlap. Additionally, Latinxs in Chicago have outnumbered Black residents yet Black elected officials hold more major political offices and Black elected officials outnumber Latinx elected officials. This phenomena will need further research to understand the potential conflicts and resolutions that will result as the political empowerment of both Black and brown communities continue to shape the local discourse and policy.
15 Pachon, Harry, and Louis DeSipio. 1992. “Latino Elected Officials in the 1990s.” PS: Political Science and Politics 25(2): 212–17. 16 NALEO Educational Fund. 2006. National Directory of Latino Elected Officials. 2006. 17 NALEO Educational Fund 2018. National Directory of Latino Elected Officials. 2018. 18 “Latinos in the 2016 Election: Illinois.” 2016. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/fact-sheet/latinos- in-the-2016-election-illinois/. 19 Ibid.
6
Chicago’s political structure is unique given that it is one of the few remaining cities that has a top-down centralized Democratic Party, widely known as the Democratic machine, or
Chicago machine politics (Royko 1971; Rakove 1975 and 1979; Cohen and Taylor 2001;
Simpson 2001; Spirou and Judd 2016; Bachrach and Berg 2019). In Chicago local elected officials, regardless of ethnic demographic, have more control over public policy and influence of political process at the micro local level. A study has looked at Latinx immigrant integration in the context of a strong political machine and Latinx political development in the suburbs of
Chicago.20 Another study has examined the role a Latino candidate for the 2004 Illinois Senate race who neither won the election nor was found to be inspiring by Latinx voters.21
As the Latinx population has increased across the country, specifically in the Midwest and the South, Latinx communities in these regions can learn strategies of political empowerment from Chicago Latinxs. In Illinois, Latinxs have also moved to suburbs and rural areas. This study can serve as a guide to understand the political maturation of Latinx political empowerment in Chicago.
Interview Questions
Latinx political empowerment has served as the conceptual framework for this study and informs the interview questions:
1. What do you see are the major barriers to Latinx empowerment in Chicago? 2. What do you see are major resources for Latinx empowerment? 3. What initiatives have you led in your community to empower the Latinx community?
20 Mollenkopf, John, and Manuel Pastor Jr. 2016. “Machine Matters: The Politics of Immigrant Integration in the Chicago Metro Area.” In Unsettled Americans: Metropolitan Context and Civic Leadership for Immigrant Integration, Cornell University Press. 21 DeSipio, Louis and Rodolfo De la Garza. 2010. “Illinois Latinos in the 2004 Election: The Waiting Game Continues.” In Beyond the Barrio: Latinos and the 2004 Elections, South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press
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4. What effect is the national debate on immigration having on the empowerment of Latinx in your community and Chicago? 5. How do policies on immigration enforcement of the present Washington administration affect empowerment in your community and Chicago? 6. How have Latinx elected officials worked with underrepresented constituencies within the Latinx community, i.e., millennials, Central Americans, and the undocumented?
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Chapter 3: Research Method
Data Collection
Interviews were used to collect data from ten Latinx elected officials in the branches of city, county, and state political subdivisions within the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan region.
Qualitative interviews sacrifice uniformity in qualitative studies but achieve fuller development of information.22 Interviews also allow the researcher to gain “coherence, depth, and density of the material each respondent provides.”23 Ten of the elected officials are Democrats and two elected officials ran for office as independents. There are currently zero Latinx elected officials holding office as members of the Republican Party within the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan region. The researcher intentionally selected five women and five men for the totality of the study. Additionally, the researcher also selected Latinx elected officials who belonged to three demographic cohorts; baby boomers (i.e., born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (i.e., born between 1965 and 1980, and millennials (i.e., born between 1981 and 1996).24
Setting
In order to diversify the composition of the participants, the participants were coded according to a descending order of their last names from A through Z. For example, the participant with the last name Angulo25 is Participant #1 and the participant with the last name
Vargas26 is Participant #10. The researcher conducted the interviews in the locations of their choice such as their office, a coffee shop, or a taqueria. The participants were asked to
22 Weiss, Robert Stuart. 1995. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press 23 Ibid, 3. 24 Nisen, Max. 2013. “How To Know If You’re Too Old To Call Yourself A Millennial.” Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/definition-of-generational-cohorts-2013-5. 25 Fictional last name 26 Fictional last name
9 participate — without compensation — in a qualitative study to explore Latinx political empowerment in urban communities.
The researcher, who currently works for a standing committee of Chicago City Council and was a former chief of staff for a member of the Chicago City Council, was able to obtain all interviews with the elected officials either by directly asking them to participate or coordinating an interview with their schedulers. Once participants agreed to take part in the study, they were sent a copy of the informed consent (see Appendix 127), questions, and a further description of the study.
All the interviews were conducted between October 18, 2019 and November 15, 2019.
Nine of the interviews were in-person interviews, one was done by phone to accommodate the participant’s time constraints
Participant Criteria
The ten Latinx elected officials selected for this study met the following criteria:
1. Participants have to self-identify as of Latinx descent.
2. Participants are currently elected officials in the Chicago metropolitan region at either the city,
county, or state level.
3. Five participants must be self-identified women and five must be self-identified men.
4. Participants must not be under any criminal investigation.
5. Participants must belong to any of the three demographic cohorts; baby boomers28 (i.e., born
between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (i.e., born between 1965 and 1980, and millennials (i.e.,
born between 1981 and 1996).29
27 Appendix 1 - Informed Consent Form 28 Colby, Sandra L, and Jennifer M Ortman. 2014. “Baby Boom Cohort in the United States: 2012 to 2060.” U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p25-1141.pdf. 29 Dimock, Michael. 2019. “Defining Generations: Where Millennials End and Generation Z Begins.” Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and- generation-z-begins/.
10
Participant Demographics
The researcher created participant profiles for each of the ten elected officials to record demographic characteristics, namely generation, political party, sex, ethnicity, and years in office.
Table 1. Demographics of Latinx Elected Officials Interviewed
Participant Generation Political Party Sex Ethnicity Years in # Office (by May 2020)
P1 millennial Democrat F Mexican 1
P2 Baby Boomer Democrat M Mexican 16
P3 millennial Democrat M Mexican-American 1
P4 millennial Democrat F Guatemalan-American 1
P5 Gen X independent F Puerto Rican 1
P6 Gen X Democrat M Puerto Rican and Mexican 1 American
P7 millennial Democrat F Mexican-American 3
P8 Gen X independent M Guatemalan-American 1
P9 millennial Democrat F Mexican-American 2
P10 Gen X Democrat M Mexican-American 5
Participant 1 (P1) is a millennial woman who will complete one year in office by May
2020. P1 is a Cook County commissioner. She represents a Cook County district on Chicago’s southwest side that is majority Latinx district. P1 was born in Mexico and is a member of the
Democratic Party.
11
Participant 2 (P2) is a man who belongs to the Baby Boomer generation. P2 is an alderman for the Chicago City Council. He is one of two Latinos who have been on Chicago City
Council for 16 years. He represents a majority Latinx ward on Chicago’s southwest side. P1 was born in Mexico and is a member of the Democratic Party.
Participant 4 (P4) is a millennial woman who will complete one year in office by May
2020. P4 is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. She represents a majority-Latinx district in Chicago’s north side. She is the first Guatemalan-American elected into the Illinois state legislature.
Participant 3 (P3) is a millennial man who will complete one year in office by May 2020.
P3 is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. He represents a district with a majority
Latinx population on the southwest side of Chicago. P3 is of Mexican descent and is a member of the Democratic Party.
Participant 5 (P5) is a Generation X woman who will complete one year in office by May
2020. P5 is an independent alderwoman for the Chicago City Council. She represents a majority
Latinx ward in Chicago’s northwest side. P5 was born and raised in Puerto Rico and migrated to
Chicago as an adult.
Participant 6 (P6) is a Generation X man who will complete one year in office by May
2020. P6 is an alderman on Chicago City Council. He represents a majority Latinx ward on
Chicago’s west side. P6 is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent and is a member of the
Democratic Party.
Participant 7 (P7) is a millennial woman who has been in office for three years by May
2020. P7 is the city clerk for the City of Chicago. She is a city-wide elected official. P7 is of
Mexican descent and is a member of the Democratic Party.
12
Participant 8 (P8) is a Generation X man who will complete one year in office by May
2020. P8 is an independent alderman on Chicago City Council. Latinxs make up 25 percent of his white-majority ward on the city’s north side. P8 is the first Guatemalan-American elected to the Chicago City Council.
Participant 9 (P9) is a millennial woman who will complete one year in office by the end of 2019. P9 is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. She represents a district with a majority Latinx population on the southwest side of Chicago, also encompassing portions of southwest suburbs. P9 is of Mexican descent and is a member of the Democratic Party.
Participant 10 (P10) is a Generation X man who will complete five years in office by
May 2020. P10 is an alderman on Chicago City Council. He represents a majority-Latinx ward on the far northwest side of Chicago. P10 is of Mexican descent and is a member of the
Democratic Party.
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Chapter 4: Findings
The purpose of the study is to understand Latinx political empowerment during the
President Trump era in inner city neighborhoods within the Chicago metropolitan region from the perspective of Latinx elected officials. After reviewing the transcripts from the interview the researcher found 3 major themes that elected officials used as examples of Latinx political empowerment in their neighborhoods. The themes include the upcoming Census 2020 and its potential to exclude Latinxs out of political representation via gerrymandered districts; the effect of Trump’s rhetoric on immigrant communities and the administration’s policy proposals on immigration; and accessibility to local municipal government services.
Theme 1: Census 2020 - The Effects of the “Citizenship Questions” and an Undercount on
Political Empowerment
Democrats declared victory on June 27, 2019 when the United States Supreme Court blocked the Commerce Department from including a question about citizenship from appearing in the 2020 census.30 Critics were concerned that the citizenship question could intimidate millions of immigrants from filling out their census surveys, potentially resulting in inaccurate counts, especially in districts where Latinx people are most likely to live — cities and blue states.
Since the inclusion of the citizenship question was announced in early 2018, the Trump administration championed the question as a way to collect data that would be used to better enforce the Voting Rights Act. Democrats questioned the motives behind the inclusion of the question, partially because of the secrecy around how the decision was made, without the usual process involving surveys and consultation. When public opinion was sought, the decision was
30 Department of Commerce Et Al. v. New York Et Al. 2019. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-966_bq7c.pdf
14 unpopular — the Census Bureau received 147,831 documents with comments on a Federal
Register Notice, and 99.1% of respondents were against the citizenship question.31 This would have been the first time in approximately 70 years that a ‘citizenship question’ would be included in the census. For the President and Republicans the court ruling was a major upset that prompted Trump to tweet, “The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE!”
In another tweet he wrote, “We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.”32 Nelson (2019) indicates that as the country rapidly becomes a majority-minority nation in terms of ethnic diversity; the Trump administration using this demographic shift to directly influence policy preferences for the upcoming US Census.33
For P1, Latinx political empowerment means participating, investing time and resources to mobilize and educate her constituency on the 2020 Census. P1 says “being counted and showing a presence, saying presente” is “fundamentally … the first step of empowerment.” For
P1, being properly counted in the Census is an act of resistance. She says, “It validates our resistance to the thousands of white supremacists, or even the one in the White House that we're here.” Nelson (2019) points out that people of color are counted depending on whether their visibility or invisibility serves to the benefit of white power brokers.34 P1 points out that a proper count in the Census is important to her because “it creates a presence of Latinx individuals in
Chicago, regardless of immigration status” in addition to “[allocation of] resources for our
31 “Analysis of Comments Received on the 2020 Census 60-Day Federal Register Notice.” 2018. Regulations.gov. https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USBC-2018-0005-79003. 32 Mangan, Kevin Breuninger, Dan. 2019. “Trump Says He Is ‘absolutely Moving Forward’ with Census Citizenship Question, Contradicting His Own Administration.” CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/03/trump-says-absolutely-moving-forward-with-census-citizenship- question.html 33 Nelson, Janai. 2019. “Counting Change: Ensuring an Inclusive Census for Communities of Color.” Columbia Law Review (119): 1402 34 Ibid; 1407
15 community.” The resources that come with census counts are two-fold, nearly $700 billion in federal funds and congressional representation as mandated by the constitution.35
P9 is a millennial Latina representing the “fourth highest density Latino district in the state of Illinois” in the lower west side of Chicago and southwest suburbs of the city. P9 proudly shows off her t-shirt with big bold letters, “Daughter of an Immigrant.” She believes that “people power” are a major resource for Latinx political empowerment. Although P9 doesn’t specifically define the meaning of people power she states, “our population is growing in ways that ...
Donald Trump … [is] afraid of the numbers that we have. They're afraid of the amount of people that exist in this country that look like us, that are brown, that are Latino.” In 2017, for the first time in the history of the U.S. Census, there is an absolute decline where white residents would not constitute a numerical majority of the total population in the near future.36 P9 believes that
Trump’s “white supremacists agenda” is based on the “fear that this country is no longer going to be a white majority country and that it's going to be predominantly people of color country, which means that there's less power for white people.”
For P9 the U.S. Census and the Commerce Department’s “inability to [invest] adequate amounts of funding for a proper census count” and the “issue of the citizenship question on the census” all point to the Trump administration's attempt to instill “fear in communities and to make especially undocumented communities feel isolated.” The U.S. Census Bureau’s own studies have also revealed that including a citizenship question may have potentially harming
35 Pursuant to Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, “[r]epresentatives . . . shall be apportioned among the several States . . . according to their respective Numbers.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3. 36 Frey, William H. 2018. “US White Population Declines and Generation ‘Z-Plus’ Is Minority White, Census Shows.” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/06/21/us-white-population- declines-and-generation-z-plus-is-minority-white-census-shows/ (December 5, 2019).
16 effects, including heightening immigrants’ and others’ fear of participating in the Census.37 P9 relates back to her “people power” concept in her belief that “all of this is part of a major overarching plan to ensure that Latino communities and not just immigrant communities … do not come into political power.” Nelson’s (2019:1406) also analyzes the effect of counting people of color and its relation to political power:
[the] prerogative of counting people of color is most easily exercised in their
favor if it does not result in creating political accountability to them. In other
words, decisions about whether and where to enumerate people of color have
historically been influenced by whether that enumeration would shift the extant
inequitable allocation of political power and in what direction.
P9 drives the point that “our communities are younger. When all of these older individuals die off, which again … we're talking about baby boomers who [are] predominantly white.” She alludes that “people power” is made up of “the people that are fueling the economy are Latino and immigrant communities.” As Steve Phillips, founder of Democracy in Color and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece, “the demographic revolution is now irreversible. . . [T]he country is . . . inexorably on a path to a new multiracial reality.”38
Nelson (2019:1404) notes that many critics of the citizenship questions on the Census have expressed credible concerns that the citizenship question will force racial and ethnic minority communities into the shadows, and combined with other factors, might cause a severe
37 Meyers, Mikelyn. 2017. “Respondent Confidentiality Concerns and Possible Effects on Response Rates and Data Quality for the 2020 Census.” https://www2.census.gov/cac/nac/meetings/2017- 11/Meyers-NAC-Confidentiality-Presentation.pdf 2, 9, 12 38 Phillips, Steve. 2018. “Opinion | Trump Wants to Make America White Again.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/opinion/trump-wants-to-make-america-white-again.html
17 and potentially incalculable undercount of people of color. P3 expressed that his “community’s undercount” has led to many elected officials not being “aware of how many people actually exist within [the] districts [they] represent.” In addition to the threat that citizenship question poses for communities the Pew Research Center indicates that urban areas in which minority populations tend to concentrate will be undercounted if the Census is underfunded.39 As of the writing of this thesis, Oswaldo Alvarez, Illinois statewide Census director, has said that
“citizenship question will not be” on the Census.40 P3 points out that he is hosting “round table
[discussions] with a lot of nonprofits in our community and learning more about how we can maximize this opportunity to count our community.” The effect of the citizenship question on the probability of an undercount for Latinx communities is a “historical moment of demographic revolution in the most influential modern democracy.”41
The inclusion of a citizenship question on the census falls under the umbrella of this administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. Intimidating immigrants from responding to a mandatory survey by including a citizenship question could mean uncounted populations and weakened political representation. Nelson (2019:1421) notes that the “sobering reality is that the numerical power of the emerging majority will not necessarily translate into fiscal or political power if sizable portions of those communities remain invisible.”
39 Kim Parker et al., “Similarities and Differences between Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities in America.” 2018. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/05/22/what-unites-and-divides-urban-suburban-and-rural- communities/ 40 Baca, Stacey. 2019. “Latino Leaders Say 2020 Census Participation Critical for Illinois’ Latino Population.” ABC7 Chicago. https://abc7chicago.com/5713866/ 41 Nelson 2019:1421
18
Theme 2: “From Fear to Fighting Back” - A Response to Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric and
Policy
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” - Donald Trump on a speech announcing his run for the presidency, June 16, 2015 All it took was one blanket statement from candidate Donald Trump “on that big beautiful day42” to change the course of the immigration debate during the 2016 presidential election — a statement which set the tone for what would become his immigration agenda as President. Five days after his inauguration, he signed two executive orders. One penalizing sanctuary cities by making them ineligible for federal grants if they limited enforcement of federal immigration laws.43 The other calling for the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border,44 while building additional detention facilities near the border to house individuals residing or entering the U.S. without legal permission.45 The President reflected on his comments about calling
Mexican people rapists and criminals three years later at a campaign rally. “Guess what,”
President Trump said, “what I said is peanuts compared to what turns out to be the truth.
It’s peanuts.46” His message was clear — instilling fear and targeting Latinxs and
42 Thomsen, Jacqueline. 2018. “Trump on Criticizing Mexican Immigrants: ‘Peanuts’ Compared to the Truth.” The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/400196-trump-says-calling-mexican- immigrants-rapists-was-peanuts-in 43 “Executive Order: Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united- states/ 44 Ibid. 45 “Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.” The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-border-security-immigration- enforcement-improvements/ 46 Thomsen, Jacqueline. 2018. “Trump on Criticizing Mexican Immigrants: 'Peanuts' Compared to the Truth.” The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/400196-trump-says-calling-mexican- immigrants-rapists-was-peanuts-in.
19 immigrants would be a central component of his immigration rhetoric during the first term in office.
Fear and Distrust in Government
This section will focus on ramifications that the Trump administration has had on Latinx political empowerment, given his rhetoric on anti-immigrant policies. Elected officials interviewed give examples of the fear that Trump’s rhetoric has created in their communities, and how that fear has translated into political disillusionment. They also note their role as local elected officials in the ways they respond to an anti-immigrant agenda, such as enacting local policies to protect immigrants or in mobilizing groups who can advocate on their behalf.
P7 is a millennial Latina elected official who was elected as the City Clerk at the
Chicago-wide level. When asked about the effect of the national debate on immigration on
Latinx political empowerment, she observes two consequences. She notes that although the national rhetoric “has caused a lot of fear in the community” there has also been a side effect of greater political engagement in some cases. “It's really brought people together from all different coalitions and backgrounds to really support the Latino community and the immigrant community, who feel threatened by [Trump’s] rhetoric,” she stated. This phenomena will be discussed later in this section.
P3 is a millennial Latino elected official representing a majority Latinx district on the southwest side of Chicago. An added Trump element shaped the election that resulted in this political newcomer’s victory over an established incumbent Democrat — the incumbent is the brother to a longtime alderman whose private law firm won Trump millions of dollars in tax
20 refunds on his namesake Chicago downtown skyscraper.47 P3 blames Trump’s policies for creating fear in his community during his campaign and after his election in 2018. P3 says, “A lot of people do not open the doors when I'm knocking on doors to collect signatures to get reelected or knocking on doors to just let them know that my [district] office is located around the corner.” He expresses concern that Latinx community members feel they “can’t trust government institutions” and in a frustrated tone, he simply says, “there just seems to be a lot of fear.” Essentially, people who would normally have been visible have now become invisible.48
It’s important to note that the fear factor described by P3 within his district represents a political and attitudinal shift in Latinx communities. Studies have provided evidence that Latinx immigrants typically settle into the U.S. feeling more trusting of government than native-born residents (Abrajano and Alvarez 2010; Michelson 2003; Wenzel 2006). A key indicator of political access and engagement is people’s trust in their government (Miller 1974). Studies have provided evidence that trust in government can predict political participation (Easton and Dennis
1967; Pateman 1976; Pollock 1983). Though Latinx immigrants often face common disadvantages like lower levels of income and education, tapping into the community’s trust in their government can be a tool for political mobilization. (Barreto 2005; Leal 2002; Michelson
2005).
This phenomena of distrust in government due to immigration policy became apparent during the Bush Administration’s implementation of the Secure Communities immigrant enforcement initiative that sought to remove unauthorized individuals if their fingerprints
47 Novak, Tim. 2018. “The Donald and The Alderman Break up; Burke No Longer Doing Tax Work for Trump.” Chicago Sun-Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/6/8/18361897/the-donald-and-the- alderman-break-up-burke-no-longer-doing-tax-work-for-trump. 48 Campbell, Brendan, Angel Mendoza, and Tessa Diestel. 2018. “Rising Hate Drives Latinos and Immigrants into Silence.” Center for Public Integrity. https://publicintegrity.org/politics/rising-hate-drives- latinos-and-immigrants-into-silence/.
21 matched the Department of Homeland Security database. A 2011 report by a task force on
Secure Communities found that there were “unintended consequences” on “community policing and community impact.” The report suggests that “trust is broken in some communities,” resulting in a “harmful impact on the ability of the police to build strong relationships with immigrant communities.”49 This mistrust in law enforcement agencies was apparent in
September 2019 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained seven
Chicagoans after back-to-back immigration operations. Alderman Raymond Lopez indicated that this action was “a bait call to get Chicago Police Department out there,” Lopez said.
“Unfortunately, CPD was manipulated by ICE.”50 In the months after this incident Mayor
Lightfoot has remained empathetic to the immigrant community, but immigrant rights advocates consider that the exceptions of ICE working with CPD in some cases, still reflected in the
Welcoming City ordinance, should be eliminated because they are negatively impacting the undocumented community in Chicago.51 In a victory for some activist the Chicago Police
Department released a revision in their protocol in March 2020 indicating that CPD “will not assist immigration agencies with a civil immigration enforcement operation, including by being present to support or assist such an operation, establishing a traffic perimeter, or providing other on-site support.”52
49 Task Force on Secure Communities: Findings and Recommendations. 2011. Homeland Security Advisory Council. https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hsac-task-force-on-secure-communities-findings- and-recommendations-report.pdf 50 Peña, Mauricio, and Heather Cherone. 2019. “ICE Agents 'Manipulated' Chicago Cops By Calling 911 During Raids, Ald. Says: 'This Was A Bait Call To Get CPD Out There'.” Block Club Chicago. https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/09/26/ice-agents-manipulated-chicago-cops-by-calling-911-during- raids-ald-says-this-was-a-bait-call-to-get-cpd-out-there/ 51 Sanabria, Belhú, and Jesús Del Toro. 2020. “Mayor Lightfoot Boosts Protection For Immigrants, But Collaboration Between Chicago Police And ICE Continues In Criminal Cases.” Block Club Chicago. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/14/mayor-lightfoot-boosts-protection-for-immigrants-but- collaboration-between-chicago-police-and-ice-continues-in-criminal-cases/ 52 “Responding to Incidents Involving Citizenship Status.” 2020. Special Order S06-14-03. Chicago Police Department. http://directives.chicagopolice.org/directives/data/a7a57b42-12ab41ab-48212-ab41- c1f5b5ad5c097076.html.
22
P6 is a Generation X Latino alderman from Chicago’s near west side representing a historically Mexican neighborhood where Latinxs make up about 87 percent of the constituency.53 He adds, “The rhetoric out of the federal government right now is racist and xenophobic, and it's causing a lot of fear.” He believes that the consequence of these fears of deportations in the community he represents will have a “long-term … negative economic impact, not just in our community and the Latinx community, but it's going to be on the larger nation.” A 2016 economic analysis from the Center for American Progress found that a “policy of mass deportation would immediately reduce the nation’s GDP by 1.4 percent, and ultimately by 2.6 percent, and reduce cumulative GDP over 10 years by $4.7 trillion.”54 In addition to a negative economic impact, the fearful environment for Latinxs and immigrants discourages engagement in local government. A study from Rocha, Knoll, and Wrinkle (2015) suggests that immigrants are more likely than white people to distrust local government in areas where the removal rate is higher. The study also shows that foreign-born Latinxs who live in areas where immigration enforcement is higher are more likely to hold negative attitudes toward local government in comparison to those that live in low-enforcement areas. P6 reiterates the repercussions that immigrants face as they are “less likely to go shopping. They're less likely to leave their house. They're less likely to call the police if there's domestic violence incidences or if there's issues on the street. I think people are just less likely to engage with government because of this rhetoric.”
53 Connolly, Colleen. “Get to Know Your Ward: 22nd Ward.” NBC Chicago. http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Get-to-Know-Your-Ward-22nd-Ward-290857181.html 54 Edwards, Ryan, and Francesc Ortega. “The Economic Impacts of Removing Unauthorized Immigrant Workers.” Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2016/09/21/144363/the-economic-impacts- of-removing-unauthorized-immigrant-workers/
23
Immigrants have multiple reasons to fear the Trump administration from both a rhetoric and policy perspective. President Trump’s own campaign reelection website lists that the removal of “illegal immigrants” as a priority. The website boasts that in the first year of the
Trump administration, ICE conducted 226,119 removals, and increased by 13 percent the following year, with 256,085 removals.55 P6 indicates that there is “a certain palpable fear within community members, both residents and non-[residents], there are fears of separation of families.” Between April through June 2018, federal authorities separated almost 2,000 children from their parents or guardians with whom they entered the country.56 The administration touted the policy as a “zero tolerance” approach intended to deter illegal immigration and encourage tougher immigration legislation. Americans reeled over images of children sleeping in aluminum blankets on mats across concrete floors, without proper adult supervision, as a result of this policy. Former Republican presidential candidate and ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush chimed in to call for Trump to “end this heartless policy.” He stated, “Children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool.”57
Although local elected officials have very little influence over federal immigration policy, a response to Trump’s rhetoric whether impactful at the local policy level or plainly symbolic in the sense of showcasing solidarity with immigrant communities, Latinx elected officials interviewed have behaved in a way that allows for immigrants to make a decision to at least trust their local governments and not fear any discrimination or intimidation due to their immigration status. Although there are elected officials who were not part of the study who have
55 “Immigration | President Donald J. Trump’s Accomplishments.” https://www.promiseskept.com/achievement/overview/immigration/ 56 Kelleher, Kevin. “DHS: 1,995 Children Taken from Families under ‘Zero Tolerance.’” Fortune. https://fortune.com/2018/06/15/dhs-1995-children-separated-families-zero-tolerance-policy/. 57 Bush, Jeb. 2018. Twitter Post. 8:18AM. https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/1008730704497258496.
24 contrasting views, the next section will highlight the actions that elected officials have taken to empower their Latinx and immigrant constituencies.
Fear as a Tool of Political Empowerment
P1 reminisces about the chilly Friday, March 11, 2016 when Donald Trump had to cancel a rally planned at a University of Illinois-Chicago venue due to violent scuffles and protests.58
She relates that moment back to her campaign in 2018 when she was canvassing in her district.
She remembers that when she talked to younger voters at the doors they seemed to “now all of a sudden want to go out and vote,” specifically those young adults who “hadn't been engaged
[politically] before Trump.” P1 says that as a result of the restrictive immigration policies that the Trump administration had imposed since his election, young adults were “now encouraged to come out and be engaged.” Some studies have shown that a sense of threat can be a strong motive for political mobilization. (Cho, Gimpel, and Wu 2006; Marcus 2000).
Street, Jones-Correa, and Zepeda-Millan (2017:823) find evidence that millennial children of undocumented immigrants have high political motivation. P1 has noticed in her majority-Mexican and Mexican American district that the “younger population have been more vocal, because they've seen injustices, so they have felt empowered by becoming more vocal and getting involved in the political process.” Scholars have measured political participation among
Mexican Americans through protests and in electoral politics, and have found them to be particularly active around issues of immigration (Zepeda 2014). Street, Jones-Correa, and
Zepeda-Millan (2017) find that the children of undocumented immigrants are “more likely to have attended an immigration march or rally” than children with documented parents. They also
58 Davey, Monica, and Julie Bosman. 2016. “Donald Trump’s Rally in Chicago Canceled after Violent Scuffles.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/us/trump-rally-in-chicago-canceled- after-violent-scuffles.html
25 find that children of undocumented immigrants are “more likely to see both legal protests, and
‘illegal protests or damaging property’ as politically effective.”
While Street, Jones-Correa, and Zepeda-Millan (2017:824) suggest that “undocumented parents might even serve as models of political distancing,” P1 does note that the “older population no longer wants to become as engaged … solely based on fear.” As previously discussed, the fear that people face is a tangible reaction to the policies that the Trump administration has enacted against undocumented immigrants. Terriquez and Kwon (2015, 425) find that “barriers to immigrant parents’ political engagement suppress the civic and political participation” of the US-born second generation.” Street, Jones-Correa, and Zepeda-Millan
(2017:827) study also finds that there are “no significant differences by parental legal status for the questions on efficacy of lobbying, working through the courts, or voting.” Their analysis also shows that more than 60 percent of their sample (young Latinx adults with documented and undocumented parents) named voting as an effective tool in pushing political change.59 P3 emphasized that millennials in his district are “understanding the importance of voting, the importance of getting more people who look like us to represent us.” In Chicago the political behavior of Latinx millennials and Generation Z will certainly lead to different political outcomes than the previous generation. This current trend of civic engagement has the potential to disrupt or alter the way that Millennials will cement their political power as they mature in comparison to the way that Baby Boomers and Generation X have attained political power.
P4, the first Guatemalan-American elected into the Illinois state legislature, represents a majority-Latinx district in Chicago’s north side that is quickly facing displacement due to gentrification. She also notices a similar effect of political empowerment with her constituency
59 See Figure 3 in Street, Alex, Michael Jones-Correa, and Chris Zepeda-Millán. 2017. “Political Effects of Having Undocumented Parents.” Political Research Quarterly 70(4): 818–32.
26 on the north side of the city, observing that “groups that otherwise would not get civically engaged particularly in the Latino community” are in fact “getting civically engaged to influence elections that create these policies.” Street, Jones-Correa, and Zepeda-Millan (2017:828) point out in their study that residency in certain states might yield varying effects on politicization. For example, Latinxs with undocumented parents, “stigmatized by the association with illegality, are more likely to "fight" and become politically active in permissive climates (e.g., Illinois), but more likely to "take flight" and withdraw from civic and political life in hostile contexts (e.g.,
Arizona).”
P2 belongs to the baby boomer generation and has been in the Chicago city council for 16 years, making him one of the longest running Latino elected officials in the city, and the oldest of the elected officials interviewed in this study. His views on political empowerment due to the circumstances that Latinxs and immigrants have faced under the Trump administration differ from his peers to say the least. He says that even though local and state officials have passed policies to protect immigrants, he says, “at the end of the day … they’re not effective” or “those laws at the end of the day, don't mean anything” given that there is a lack of national comprehensive immigration policy meant to create a path for citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.
P2 blames the federal government for not being able to pass a comprehensive immigration plan. He goes on to say that the policies itself don't move the needle much, “we're still stuck as we did since 1986 with 11 million undocumented immigrants here living in the shadows.” P2 is referencing the last major comprehensive immigration reform that was passed over 30 years ago, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. This federal legislation provided amnesty for undocumented migrants who had been in the U.S. before 1982,
27 and for seasonal laborers who worked in agriculture in 1986.60 IRCA also promised to stop unauthorized immigration by sharply increasing border enforcement and by imposing new sanctions on employers who hired workers without legal status.61 A total of 2.7 million people regularized their immigration status.62
P2 says the federal government’s response toward immigrant activists who “come out in full force” has the “opposite effect” on advancing positive immigration legislation. Instead, P2 says the federal government tends to apply more “force” by proposing immigration legislation that is not favorable to the 11 million undocumented people living in this country. P2 has been in office for 16 years and has governed through multiple presidents and mayors. Out of all the elected officials interviewed, P2 seemed the most disillusioned with the legislative process behind federal immigration reform. He is also the only Baby Boomer interviewed in this study and in comparison to his colleagues who were interviewed, P2 offers the most cynical and bleak perspective on Latinx political empowerment. There is a combination of many factors that contribute to his beliefs such as age, generation, length of time in elected office, general burnout of being in Chicago politics for so long.
P9 sees the work of immigration advocates differently in contrast to P2, and provides an example of how it has been effective in Chicago. P9 says that in meeting with Robert Guadian,
ICE’s newly appointed Chicago field office director during summer 201963, Guadian said that immigration organizers are “doing [their] job too well.” P9 explains that her work around
60 Chishti, Muzaffar, Doris Meissner, and Claire Bergeron. 2017. “At Its 25th Anniversary, IRCA's Legacy Lives On.” Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/its-25th-anniversary-ircas- legacy-lives. 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid. 63 “New ICE Chicago Director Committed to Bridging Relationships with Public, Media.” 2019. ICE Newsroom. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/new-ice- chicago-director-committed-bridging-relationships-public-media.
28 passing a “Welcoming City Ordinance” and hosting “Know Your Rights” workshops to inform immigrants on responding appropriately to ICE encounters have been important in fomenting trust in local institutions such as her office.
Guadian’s statements have led P9 to believe that immigration activist in Chicago have forced immigration enforcement officers have to “jump through those hoops” and made their work at times “unbearable” (ex. ICE raids, difficulty in working with CPD) given the amount of grassroots and political opposition they face in the city. The political capital that Latinxs have gained in the Chicago area has a role to play in how effective these advocacy efforts have been.
Although all the elected officials in this section mentioned fear as a consequence of
President Trump’s rhetoric and policies, all but one indicated that it has led to Latinx political empowerment. P2 is the oldest of the elected officials with 16 years of experience and the rest have been in office for three years or less and belong to the millennial generation and Gen X.
This leads me to believe that P2 is experiencing political alienation, specifically political discontentment with his inability as an alderman to influence federal policy.64 The rest of the elected officials are optimistic about harnessing the synergy created within their Latinx communities to pass legislation at the municipal and state level that would protect and elevate their communities. The next section will discuss the creation of initiatives that this cohort of
Latinx elected officials are establishing to ensure that Latinxs and immigrants feel politically empowered in their own communities by having access to their local government.
Theme 3: Open Government: Accessibility and Transparency Initiatives
During the planning and participant interview portion of the study the researcher had to stop pursuing interviews with two Latino elected officials who were involved in federal
64 Olsen, Marvin E. 1969. “Two Categories of Political Alienation.” Social Forces 47(3): 288–299.
29 corruption investigations. Both officials are male and belonged to the Baby Boomer generation.
One is a Mexican-American Illinois state senator who has been in office since 2003 representing a majority Latinx district on the city’s southwest side. His district office and home were raided by the FBI in September 2019 for investigations into bribery and theft.65 He later resigned in
November 2019.66 The other elected official is a Puerto Rican Illinois state representative who has been in office since 2006 representing a majority Latinx district on the city’s north side but resigned in October 2019 after being charged with bribery.67 Earlier in the year, two Latino alderman, each holding their seat in Chicago city council for a little over 20 years, did not seek reelection. In one case, the alderman was involved in an ongoing federal corruption probe68 and the other was facing domestic violence charges.69 These scandals came on the heels of another major bombshell in Chicago’s city council —Alderman Edward Burke, one of the most powerful elected officials in the city and state, had his government and political offices raided by the FBI and was then charged with racketeering, bribery, and attempted extortion in a federal indictment.70 Ald. Burke has been in office since 1969 and is a white elected official whose ward
65 Meisner, Dan Petrella and Jamie Munks, Jason. “Documents Show Feds Were after Evidence of Bribery and Theft from Federally Funded Program in Raid of State Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Office.” chicagotribune.com. https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-illinois-sen-martin-sandoval-federal- search-warrant-20191001-ohwxaweejzbajmdu2sbwbnndny-story.html 66 “Illinois Sen. Martin Sandoval Resigns from Office While under Investigation for Possible Bribery.” 2019. ABC7 Chicago. https://abc7chicago.com/5723292/ 67 Berg, Austin. 2019. “Illinois State Representative Resigns Following Bribery Charge.” Illinois Policy. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-state-representative-resigns-following-bribery-charge/ 68 Spielman, Fran, and Jon Seidel. 2019. “Solis Secretly Recorded Fellow Ald. Burke to Help Feds in Criminal Investigation.” Chicago Sun-Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/1/23/18369359/solis- secretly-recorded-fellow-ald-burke-to-help-feds-in-criminal-investigation 69 “Ex-Ald. Ricardo Munoz Found Not Guilty of Domestic Battery.” 2019. NBC Chicago. http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Chicago-Ald-Ricardo-Munoz-Found-Not-Guilty-of-Domestic- Battery-511914502.html 70 Bremer, Shelby. “Ald. Ed Burke Paid Nearly $400K in Legal Fees, Records Show.” NBC Chicago. http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/ed-burke-legal-fees-400k-562760661.html
30 is majority Latinx in the city’s southwest side.71 Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has said,
“Make no mistake: Ald. Burke is the last bastion of Chicago machine politics.”72
This section will discuss the initiatives that this cohort of Latinx elected officials are establishing to ensure that Latinxs and immigrants feel politically empowered in their own communities. A review of Chicago’s history of machine politics and corruption is crucial to understanding the context of this current local political climate. Most of the elected officials spoke about their initiatives to provide accessibility and transparency to their governmental offices in response to the corruption that has plagued Chicago politics and government, and which changed the tone of the most recent municipal election
On February 2019 a report from the University of Illinois - Chicago ranked the Chicago metropolitan area as the most corrupt city in the country.73 Between 1976 and 2017 Chicago had
1,731 federal convictions for public corruption cases. Since the 1970s, more than 30 Chicago city council members have been tied to corruption cases. Additionally, the report finds that
Illinois ranked — on a per capita basis — as the third most corrupt state in America. In 2017, state government employees had 34 convictions for public corruption, and Chicago government employees accounted for 82 percent of them. Although there is no analysis of ethnic background of the elected officials that have been convicted, a review of the last names indicated that white,
71 Black, Curtis. 2019. “Ald. Ed Burke Represents the Worst of Chicago's White Political Machine.” Chicago Reporter. https://www.chicagoreporter.com/ald-ed-burke-represents-the-worst-of-chicagos-white- political-machine/. 72 Spielman, Fran. 2018. “Has Ed Burke Finally Reached the End of His Long Political Road?” Chicago Sun-Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/11/29/18440995/has-ed-burke-finally-reached-the-end-of- his-long-political-road. 73 Simpson, Dick, Thomas J. Gradel, and Marco Rosaire Rossi. 2019. “Corruption in Chicago and Illinois.” University of Illinois at Chicago. Anti-Corruption Report #11. http://pols.uic.edu/wp- content/uploads/sites/273/2019/02/Corrruption-Rpt-11-final.docx
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Black, and Latinx government employees including elected officials have been involved in public corruption cases.74
Both P1 and P7 specifically mentioned Chicago Democratic machine politics and corruption as major barriers to Latinx political empowerment. P7 is excited about the amount of
“Latinas coming up in political power” and the potential for moving away from the “old school political factions [of] back in the day.” In her discussion of Latinx elected officials who are disconnected from their community and don’t represent the interest of Latinxs just because they share the same ethnicity, P1 says, “we can talk about the Daley’s ... that created a Hispanic
Democratic Organization75 here in Chicago and literally handpicked Latino [people] to represent areas that [they] potentially didn't have the best interest of the community.”
Milton Rakove (1975) describes the Chicago Democratic machine as a monster that
“encompasses elements of every major political, economic, racial, ethnic, religious, governmental, and paramilitary power group within the city.” Between 1955-1976 and 1989-
2011,76 the Chicago machine was non-ideological in its political orientation, with its sole purpose being “gaining and retaining office, and to reaping the rewards of office” (Rakove 1975:
156). At the center of this pursuit was the power of elected officials to provide technical constituent services — trimming trees, fixing sidewalks and lowering property taxes. Rakove explains that the machine politicians’ focus in delivering constituent services was a technique to appease influential people or groups. He writes “merchants, real estate developers, newspaper publishers, and wealthy residents” get “first-rate services” (Rakove 1975:17). He writes that
74 Simpson, Dick, Thomas J. Gradel, Michael Dirksen and Marco Rosaire Rossi. 2020. “Chicago Still the Corruption Capital.” University of Illinois at Chicago. Anti-Corruption Report #12. https://pols.uic.edu/wp- content/uploads/sites/273/2020/02/Corruption.Rpt_12.Complete.pdf 75 McClell, Edward. “Secrets of the HDO.” NBC Chicago. http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward- room/Secrets-of-the-HDO-118241034.html 76 Chicago Mayoral administrations of 1955-1976 Richard J. Daley and 1989-2011 Richard M. Daley
32 machine politicians’ concern with materialistic services came at the expense of addressing broad social issues (Rakove 1975:9). Although the days of the Chicago Democratic machine at its height under Richard J. Daley are gone, a legacy still permeates some sectors of the Democratic
Party and the local government. Even as recent as 2016, the city inspector launched an investigation into why city snow plows gave preferential treatment to the block of powerful
Alderman Edward Burke.77 Elected officials today grapple with the responsibility to provide city services while finding ways to make government accessible to all constituents — the following elected officials discuss their initiatives to navigate this responsibility among their Latinx constituencies.
P5 is a Puerto Rican alderwoman of a ward in the city’s far north side. She ran as an independent and shows up to the interview wearing a necklace engraved with the word resistencia. She has been in office for less than a year and, according to her, “49 percent of [the] ward is Latinx, and about 34 percent of [the] ward is white.” She says that her “main platform plan” was founded on the “idea of equity” and making sure that Latinxs and immigrants were protected in her community but also empowered by “making sure that they have access to any services that they need.” P5 says that by having a bilingual office, they are providing “language access” to people that normally don’t have governmental institutions speak in their native tongue. The Crimsonbridge Foundation published a report that a “communication strategy, or plan, can be an essential tool for developing strong and lasting relationships—with the communities it serves” and policy makers specifically in Latinx communities.78
77 Sun-Times staff. 2016. “City Inspector General Investigates Early-and-Often Snow Plowing on Ald. Ed Burke’s Street.” Chicago Sun-Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/6/24/18447296/city-inspector- general-investigates-early-and-often-snow-plowing-on-ald-ed-burke-s-street 78 Torres, Alicia, Luz Guerra, Selma Caal, and Weilin Li. 2016. “Reaching and Engaging with Hispanic Communities: A Research-Informed Communication Guide for Nonprofits, Policymakers, and Funders.” Crimsonbridge Foundation. September. https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016- 51LatinoCommunicationsGuide.pdf
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Furthermore, she provides an interesting perspective on constituent services that differs from the old Democratic machine. Rakove explains that the old Democratic machine “maintains a tight hold on the political loyalties of the vast majority of the blacks and Spanish-speaking populations” by “ministering to their personal needs and private passions”79 which he defines as
“largesse and services.”80 The ultimate goal of the machine is to receive its return in the form of a vote.81 P5 radically departs from the Democratic machine model of providing services. Instead of calling them constituent services, P5 proudly says her offices calls them “neighborhood services,” and says that her ward offices provides “services not just for people who vote or people who can vote or people who have access to voting. The services that we provide are for everybody in the neighborhood regardless of your age and regardless of your immigration status.” Providing city services to the undocumented population would be unheard of and not a priority during the machine era. P6 says during his interview that his “organization started in early eighties precisely because the white elected official in our ward was sending city services to [Ald.]Burke's ward. Things like garbage pickup would happen twice a week over there. We would get it once every two weeks.” Discrimination due to ethnic background, language, and immigration status are many obstacles that Latinx communities have dealt with as they have settled different communities across Chicago.
Another way that P5 is providing access to discussions and decisions that are normally made in City Hall are by creating a Community Driven Zoning and Development (CDZN) process. Her community on the far north side is rapidly facing gentrification and many working-
79 Rakove 1975:17 80 Ibid., 19 81 Ibid., 17
34 class residents are facing displacement as housing and rental costs become unaffordable.82 P5 emphasized that she is “committed to working [on] affordable housing” and her CDZN process is used to leverage the voice of her community on their concerns of land use development.
Normally, alderpersons and land developers would fulfill the bureaucratic requirements as listed on the zoning section of the Chicago municipal code and then work their way through the various divisions such as Zoning Board of Appeals, Department of Planning and Development, and the Committee on Zoning until receiving clearance to get zoning approval to develop the land. However, this entire process left residents out of the picture. The process that P5 has implemented in her ward seeks to empower those residents who have been most affected by gentrification — Latinxs, working class people, and immigrants.83
P7 ties political empowerment directly to accessibility of municipal government services.
Her initiatives have a “multi-pronged” approach to ensure that different communities with a wide variety of needs are being addressed. Through the city clerk’s office, she was able to pass an ordinance creating a municipal identification card, popularly known as the CityKey ID card, the purpose of which is to provide “our people access to city services, access to banking, [and] access to employment.” Additionally, the clerk’s office will review but not collect documents submitted for identification, and will not maintain a record of addresses and telephone numbers.
Section 2-176-050 of the Chicago municipal ID ordinance titled “Confidentiality” maintains that the clerk’s office will keep all information submitted confidential to the maximum extent of the law. These guidelines were codified to prepare for the incalculable policies that the Trump
82 McClell, Edward. “Where Is Gentrification Happening? Follow the Mayors.” Chicago magazine. http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/April-2019/Where-Is-Gentrification-Happening-Follow-the-Mayors/ 83 Zamudio, Maria Ines. 2018. “As Logan Square’s White Population Surpasses Latinos, The Reverse Happens in Other Communities.” Block Club Chicago. https://blockclubchicago.org/2018/12/11/after- decades-as-a-hispanic-enclave-white-population-surpasses-latinos-in-logan-square/
35 administration has had against immigrants. For example, an executive order issued by the Trump administration in 2017 targeting cities like Chicago in an attempt to limit sanctuary city policies.84 Sanctuary city policies are meant to limit the city’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents in order to protect low-priority immigrants from deportation. In response to this anti-immigrant climate at the national level, P7 emphasizes that at the municipal level the CityKey is the “biggest initiatives that ... empowers all communities” specifically the
“Latino community and the undocumented immigrant community.”
P7 also hosted a Next Generation City Council where her office invited selected students from all fifty of Chicago’s wards. Her goal is to empower students of color by making sure they understand their local government and the importance of voicing their concerns over societal issues that can eventually translate into the “[creation of] ordinances and laws without having to wait until they're 18 or wait until they're in college.” She also created the Women and Girls working group that formed a coalition of organizations across the city to develop recommendations targeted at closing the gender pay gap faced by Black and Latina women.
Lastly her office created the Fines, Fees, and Access Collaborative which is aimed at creating major reforms to get people of color out of debt, with a focus on the punitive municipal policies around automotive citations and debt-collection. P7 summarizes that her office is “really trying to make people feel like we've got [their] back, that we're with you, that you're our neighbors, that [Trump’s] hate has no home here, [and] that we're supporting our communities.”
P8 became the first Guatemalan-American alderman elected to the Chicago city council in May 2019, after running as an independent. He belongs to the Generation X and represents a
84 The Associated Press. 2019. “Trump Administration Gets Court Victory in Sanctuary Cities Case.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/us/sanctuary-cities-ruling.html
36
“52 percent white and 25 percent Latinx” ward on the city’s far north side. A feat that not many
Latinx elected officials can accomplish — winning in predominantly white wards. Like his colleagues in this section, P8 also campaigned on “trying to open up government.” He reminds me that he defeated an incumbent who governed the ward for 36 years — a well-connected ward boss of the Democratic machine who was entangled in various corruption scandals throughout his nine terms.85
P8 boasts the he has invited “neighbors to come be part of our legislative team [by] volunteering at the [ward] office.” He explains that his office also organized “quarterly town halls” and provides his constituents “daily Facebook updates on what we're doing in the office.”
Like P5, his fellow north side colleague, P8 also believes that language accessibility for the
Spanish-speaking community is important. He remembers that his parents had the same experience as his constituents. They were not able to properly communicate due to the language barrier. He recounts the anecdote of a Latinx constituent who asked to speak to an office staffer in Spanish. P8 recalls that he walked up to the constituent and addressed them, “¿hola, como le puedo ayudar?” The constituent gives him a “look of relief” as they were able to communicate directly to the alderman about city services. P8 used this as an opportunity to provide a “better understanding of the [governmental] process” to a constituent who would have been turned away in a government office controlled by a machine politician. Another way that P8 is providing initiatives to create transparent processes in his ward is by instituting a ‘participatory budget’
(PB) process by which community members have input how to spend part of the aldermanic
“menu” budget.
85 Becker, Robert, and Dan Mihalopoulos. 2018. “He Zones. She Sells. And It's Legal.” Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-06-01-0806010003-story.html
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P10 is an alderman who represents a majority-Latinx ward on the far northwest side of
Chicago and has been in office since 2015. P10 believes his “office [is] very accessible” as he has organized it to be a “conduit between the government and the community.” P8 and P10 both agree that empowerment is directly tied to accessibility of government and use the participatory budget process to address the historic inequality in distribution and allocation of infrastructure funds throughout the city. The aldermanic “menu” budget has traditionally been a financial tool used by alderpersons to allocate $1.32 million per ward from the City of Chicago Capital
Improvement Program general obligation bonds. Aldermen choose from a “menu” of infrastructure project options including the repair and upgrade of streets, alleys, curbs, sidewalks, traffic signals, street and alley lighting and street pole painting.86
Aldermen have had sole discretion over this “menu” budget ever since Mayor Richard M.
Daley launched the program 20 years ago.87 They have power over how the funds are spent and most importantly which neighborhoods will get the upgrades. The Office of the Inspector
General for the City of Chicago released an audit of the Aldermanic Menu Infrastructure funding in 2017 stating that their “findings are deeply troubling and point to serious systemic issues in the City’s residential infrastructure planning which disproportionately affect certain parts of the
City.”88 One of the major findings is the funding disparity between wealthy majority white wards on the city’s north lakeshore neighborhoods and the majority Black and brown neighborhoods of the south and west sides.
86 “Capital Improvement Program.” 2019. Office of Budget and Management. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/obm/provdrs/cap_improve.html. 87 Dardick, Hal. 2019. “Chicago Aldermen Revolt at Watchdog's Idea to Take Away Street Paving Money.” Chicago Tribune. May 15. https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-aldermen-inspector- general-menu-money-met-0421-20170420-story.html 88Chicago Department of Transportation: Aldermanic Menu Program Audit. 2017. Chicago, IL: Office of Inspector General. https://igchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CDOT-Aldermanic-Menu-Program- Audit.pdf.
38
Rakove (1975:17) highlights that the Democratic machine pacified Chicago residents by being a “good liaison with the lower levels of the city’s bureaucracy for redress of grievances.”
Both P8 and P10 are directly challenging the machine’s behavior by connecting their constituents with middle and high levels of bureaucracy in the participatory budget process.
During the PB process, residents will work directly with city agencies to determine the feasibility and cost of infrastructure projects.89 Once residents narrow down a set of projects it is followed up by a community science fair-type of exposition for residents across the ward to learn about each of the infrastructure projects. A ward-wide election is the final step of the process. Whereas the requirements to vote in general elections in Chicago are to be a U.S. citizen and be at least 18 by the day of election among others,90 P10 has changed the voting requirements for his PB process. He lowered the voting age to 14 —freshmen in high school. He says he wants to make his “office accessible [and] a sanctuary office.” This is a direct response to Trump’s anti- immigrant rhetoric of attacking sanctuary cities like Chicago. P10 has allowed undocumented people in his ward to vote in ward-wide elections. He reminds his constituency that undocumented people are “taxpayers and they have a voice” by voting in the PB process.
Author and journalist Edward McClelland reflected on the election of the first lesbian and
Black woman, Lori Lightfoot, to be elected as mayor of Chicago. After the 2019 Chicago municipal elections he says that “the Machine is more effective as a political straw man than as a political force.” Although “there are a few corners of Chicago where the Machine still operates” for the most part the “Machine is a relic of 20th century Chicago.”91 All participants besides P2
89 “About: What Is Participatory Budgeting?” Participatory Budgeting in Chicago. http://www.pbchicago.org/about.html. 90 “Qualifications to Register to Vote.” Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. https://www.chicagoelections.gov/en/register-to-vote-change-of-address.html. 91 McClell, Edward. “The Machine Is Dead.” Chicago magazine. http://www.chicagomag.com/arts- culture/April-2019/Lori-Lightfoot-Toni-Preckwinkle-the-Chicago-Machine-Is-Dead/ (December 5, 2019).
39 came into power after 2015, four years after Mayor Richard M. Daley and chair of the Cook
County Democratic Party retired. The post-Daley machine generation of elected officials could no longer rely on influencing supporters by offering patronage jobs or leveraging their connections to efficiently deliver city services. Locally, the effects of Chicago’s history of machine politics, the segregation of the city,92 and unequal investment in working-class Black and brown communities93 has led to these communities’ political disempowerment. Nationally, the rhetoric of fear has caused immigrants to feel constantly threatened under the Trump administration. These compounded factors require new and creative solutions — participatory budget process, community zoning process, municipal ID cards and other initiatives listed in this section to “open government” are a strategic response to this need. The initiatives presented serve the purpose of politically empowering Latinx communities as this cohort of Latinx elected officials carve a new political arena in the face of a collapsing Chicago political machine and confront an uncertain climate for the remaining years of the Trump administration. The majority of the interviewed elected officials in this study will create a unique chapter in Chicago political history. The cohort interviewed are immigrants, children of immigrants, Millennials, working class, independent and some are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. This is unprecedented in the urban American political sphere. Additionally, this cohort will legislate during an era that will determine if the remnants of the Chicago Democratic machine will continue to fall apart or if the machine will be repurposed for the 21st century.
92 Pendall, Rolf. 2018. The Cost of Segregation: Population and Household Projections in the Chicago Commuting Zone and Implications for Economic and Racial Segregation, 2015–2030 . Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/98453/the_cost_of_segregation_7.pdf. 93 Theodos, Brett, Eric Hangen, Brady Meixell, and Prasanna Rajasekaran. 2019. Neighborhood Disparities in Investment Flows in Chicago. Urban Institute.
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Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion
Discussion
Throughout her interview, P9 emphasizes that “they are afraid of our [Latinx] power and that should empower us.” This study has demonstrated that Latinx elected officials interviewed in this study are finding ways to empower their Latinx communities in the face of an apparent tumbling of Chicago political power structures and a Trump Administration that has been adamant about targeting immigrant communities with harsh policies. Both the Trump
Administration and the remnants of the Democratic machine are dealing with the reality that
Latinxs will soon be the majority in many precincts and communities across the city and country.
As the population of Latinxs increase so will the demands of the constituency on their local elected officials, even as the elected officials become increasingly reflect the ethnographic make- up of their communities.
In addition to the major themes of engaging Latinx communities for the 2020 census,
Trump’s immigration rhetoric and policy, and accessibility to local government the ten Latinx elected officials also highlighted other factors that will have an impact on Latinx political empowerment. Five of the participants mentioned that a lack of leadership development opportunities keeps Latinx people from positions in city, county, state and federal levels where
Latinx representation is needed.
All participants mentioned that they are either formally or informally working on creating mentorship programs or leadership programs to recruit the next generation of Latinx leaders. The millennial and Gen-X participants who have been elected within the past year emphasized their background as everyday working-class Chicagoans, not belonging to the political elite or any
41 well-connected business family in the city. They framed their position in society this way to highlight that they are outsiders to the old Democratic political machine.
P9 says she tells young Latina women “that it doesn't take an extraordinary individual to make these [political] decisions... but it takes an ordinary person in making extraordinary decisions.” Two of the five women interviewed mentioned specific initiatives that are designed to empower Latinas in Chicago but all mentioned their experiences of being the only Latina in some settings where city-wide or state-wide decisions are being made.
Another point that was made by some of those elected officials who were elected after
2018 was their background as “children of immigrants.” They mentioned it as a way to directly relate to their young immigrant constituencies who come from families of mixed immigration status. Though they relate to their constituency in this way, they all also followed up by sharing the way their background makes them isolated within their political environment — such as their burden of being the youngest in office or in the case of P4 and P8, being the first and only
Guatemalan-American elected into state and city government, respectively.
Two of the state legislators and one alderman indicated that although immigration is a top priority for them, their communities are not monolithic. They expressed concern specifically with the research questions about immigration. The elected officials would have liked if the researcher included questions about other policies that will have an impact on Latinx communities such as the legalization of recreational marijuana or access to mental health services.
Both elected officials who ran as independents have activist backgrounds and highlighted that many of their colleagues at the city, county, and state level — some who were interviewed in this study — come from community organizing backgrounds as well. P8 says “no one is really
42 used to having organizers or activists in the council.” This cohort of elected officials will undoubtedly have a lasting legacy for Latinx politics in the city.
During the interview, P4 pauses and looks at the researcher directly in the eye and says,
“Latinos cannot move forward if Black people don't move forward” when it comes to attaining political influence in Chicago. She shares her vision and states, “I really want to see two things: a real intentional Black and brown coalition where we see that our liberation is intertwined in each other, and then we can create a voting bloc or the kind of leadership that can't be stopped by any white man or any other group.” The Urban Institute released a study in 2018 that predicts that
Chicago will remain a highly segregated city in 2030.94 Once Chicago’s largest demographic, the
African-American population has dwindled by 24 percent getting surpassed by whites and
Latinxs.95 There are multiple theories that explain the “Black exodus” in Chicago,96 but for P6, regardless of the circumstances “it’s very crucial that we create a more favorable situation for working class people in our city, both Black and brown.” For most of the participants of this study, both Latinx and Black political empowerment is crucial for the advancement of those communities. There is an opportunity for further research on the ways Black and Latinx political empowerment is strengthened when these communities uplift one another, contributing to each other’s communities and to the city as a whole. Additionally, as the remnants of the old political machine stumble, Black and Latinx elected officials will have to adjust in order to further establish influence in the post-Daley and post-Emmanuel era.
94 Pendall, Rolf. 2018. “The Cost of Segregation: Population and Household Projections in the Chicago Commuting Zone and Implications for Economic and Racial Segregation, 2015–30.” Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/cost-segregation-population-and-household-projections- chicago-commuting-zone-and-implications-economic-and-racial-segregation-2015-30/view/full_report 95 Loury, Alden. 2017. “Chicago’s Story of Population Loss Is Becoming an Exclusive about Black Population Loss.” Metropolitan Planning Council. https://www.metroplanning.org/news/article/8434 96 Saunders, Pete. “Is Chicago’s Legacy of Segregation Causing a Reverse Great Migration?” Chicago Reader. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicagos-black-exodus/Content?oid=66920657
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Conclusion
U.S. Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia spoke at the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus
Foundation scholarship luncheon and said Latinos "have the most to win and the most to lose" in the population count of the 2020 Census. Congressman Garcia, who represents an extremely gerrymandered district made up of majority Latinxs in Chicago and in the west suburbs says,
"I'm talking about resources. It's also known as money or funding. I'm talking about power. The ability to influence policy from Washington D.C. to the state legislature to city hall."97 This study was crafted to understand the notion of Garcia’s analysis of establishing political power in the Latinx community given the current political climate. This study has found that the Census
2020, Trump’s immigration rhetoric and policy, and accessibility to local government are factors that contribute to Latinx political empowerment during the President Trump era in urban neighborhoods according to the perspective of Latinx elected officials from city, county, and state levels in the Chicago metropolitan region. This study is relevant as it examines the perspective of millennial and Gen-X Latinx elected officials in Chicago and further analysis will be crucial to understanding this population’s cohort political views and behaviors not just at the local level but at the federal level as well.
Further analysis of population patterns in neighborhoods of Chicago were the Latinx population is changing must be studied. For example in Pilsen, a majority Latinx ward in the lower west side of Chicago is quickly losing thousands of Latinx residents each year. Will
Latinxs in this neighborhood lose an elected official in the next decade? In other neighborhoods, such as the 13th and 14th Wards in the southwest side, all have surging majority Latinx populations but the remnants of the Democratic machine still control these two wards. Will the
97 Baca, Stacey. 2019. “Latino Leaders Say 2020 Census Participation Critical for Illinois’ Latino Population.” ABC7 Chicago. https://abc7chicago.com/5713866/
44 current white elected officials in these neighborhoods survive the next municipal elections? Or will they "handpick" a Latinx candidate that functions under the rule of the remnants of the machine? In the far southeast side of Chicago, considered to be the first Mexican-American neighborhood in the city, Latinxs are the majority and have overwhelmingly voted for a progressive white woman in her first two terms. Are Latinxs in the far southeast side voting on a working-class values rather than an ethnic background? All these questions need an in-depth analysis to examine the role of Latinx electoral participation and their impact on Latinx political empowerment. Extrapolating these findings will be crucial for Latinxs in the next generation as they become majority in many precincts across different municipalities not just in Illinois but across the nation.
Mayra Macías, executive director of Latino Victory, a progressive organization that recruits and supports Latinx candidates across the country says, “We need to give the Latino community entry points, and ask them to engage. It is not enough for folks to be angry.”98 This anger or fear that was explored earlier in this study will wear out when President Trump is no longer in office but will Latinxs remember this when they vote? P9 reiterates at the end of her interview that the Trump effect “creates an opportunity for us to be able to kind of shake the tree loose and say, ‘Wake up, it's time. It's our time, because these people are not going to give us what we need. We're the ones that need to get us what we need.’" Latinxs are undoubtedly becoming politically empowered and gaining influence across different fields of government. As
Latinx millennial settle into adulthood and Generation-Z reaches adulthood in this next decade, these cohorts will have a definite impact on the future of American politics.
98 Kiefer, Francine. 2019. “As Latinos’ Political Clout Grows, Could U.S. Follow Path of California?” Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/1120/As-Latinos-political-clout- grows-could-U.S.-follow-path-of-California (December 5, 2019).
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In the months following the interview collection process, the world shifted its attention to the global pandemic of the CoVid-19 or coronavirus. Entire cities and countries have quarantined their populations and essentially divided their workforce sectors into essential and non-essential employees in attempts to contain the highly infectious spread of the virus.99 Unemployment rates have skyrocketed to levels not seen since the Great Depression of 1929.100 The state of Illinois already had $7 billion in debt and now that revenues will fall to an all-time low due to lack of taxes coming in the situation becomes extremely bleak.101 The repercussions of this global pandemic will last for years to come and our world awaits the “new normal” as stay-at-home orders are lifted and scientists scramble to find a vaccine.
At the time of this writing, years of disinvestment in medical care have contributed to
Latinxs in Illinois having the highest rate of coronavirus infections mainly due to the high concentrations of essential workers living in Latinxs zip codes.102 Undocumented immigrants are facing dilemmas since they do not qualify for unemployment or the federal stimulus.103This global pandemic has already begun to affect the Census 2020 as response rates in majority
Latinx census tracts are not on par to previous counts.104 President Trump continues to use
99 Waterfield, Sophia. 2020. “A List of Essential Workers That We Should Thank and Support during the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/list-essential-workers-that-we-should- thank-support-during-coronavirus-pandemic-1495750 100 Schwartz, Nelson D. 2020. “'Nowhere to Hide' as Unemployment Permeates the Economy.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/business/economy/unemployment-numbers- coronavirus.html. 101 McClelland, Edward. 2020. “Illinois Is Uniquely Ill-Equipped to Pay for Coronavirus.” Chicago Magazine. April 8. http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/April-2020/Illinois-Is-Uniquely-Ill-Equipped-to-Pay- for-Coronavirus/ 102 Gallardo, Michelle. 2020. “Illinois Latinos Now Have Highest Rate of Coronavirus Infections, IDPH Data Shows.” ABC7 Chicago. May 4. https://abc7chicago.com/coronavirus-illinois-test-latino/6150864/ 103 Diaz, Adriana. 2020. “Latino Communities Struggle amid Coronavirus Outbreak: ‘They're Crying. They're Desperate.” CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/latino-communities-struggle- coronavirus-outbreak/ 104 Malagón, Elvia. 2020. “As Chicago Households Fill out 2020 Census during Coronavirus Pandemic, Some Latino Neighborhoods Are Falling behind in Participation.” Chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-chicago-census-day-2020-20200401- hvjhrxnr7nahhitt26gcv43il4-story.html.
46 intimidating immigration rhetoric amid the pandemic. During a White House briefing he said, “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrants, labor flown in from abroad, we must first take care of the American worker, take care of the American worker.”105 The President’s rhetoric is further fueling the anti-immigrant sentiment that has quickly grown since he took into office. At the municipal level, Mayor Lori
Lightfoot has sent all non-essential workers to work from home, including Alderpeople and their staff. Ward offices normally resolving micro-local issues block by block are now scrambling to define what constituent services look like in the era of the coronavirus. Alderpeople went from ensuring the street lights are working and that garbage is being picked up on time to distributing thousands of facemasks to constituents or asking for donations to support their local food pantry.106
Although this global pandemic is just in the beginning phases, its repercussions on Latinx political empowerment in Chicago will certainly be affected for generations to come.
105 Kumar, Anita. 2020. “Trump's Immigration Pause Falls Well Short of Full Ban.” POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21/trump-immigration-green-card-coronavirus-198498 106 Block Club Chicago Staff. 2020. “Here's Where To Get A Free Mask In Chicago This Weekend.” Block Club Chicago. Block Club Chicago. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/05/01/heres-where-to-get-a-free- mask-in-chicago-this-weekend/
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Appendix
Informed Consent Form
UT Austin IRB Approved Protocol Number: 2019-09-0091 Approved: 15 October 2019
Title of the Project: Latinx Political Empowerment in Chicago Principal Investigator: Ismael Cuevas, Graduate Student, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University of Texas at Austin Faculty Advisor: Nestor P. Rodriguez, PhD. Dept. of Sociology. University of Texas at Austin Study Sponsor: None Consent to Participate in Research
Invitation to be Part of a Research Study You are invited to be part of a research study. This consent form will help you in choosing whether or not to participate in the study. Feel free to ask if anything is not clear in this consent document.
What is the study about and why are we doing it? The purpose of the study is to understand Latinx political empowerment in urban neighborhoods from the perspective of Latinx elected officials from city, county, and state levels in Chicago. Although there has been research into the rise of civic engagement organizations, independent political organizations, immigrant rights organizations, and hometown associations in Chicago, there is a missing component on the perspectives of Latinx elected officials. This study will add to the canon of Latino politics in the field of Latinx and Mexican-American studies.
What will happen if you take part in this study? If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to have an in-person interview with Mr. Ismael Cuevas, Principal Investigator for this study, over the course of 60 minutes in a setting of your choice, for example your City Hall office, Ward office, or a coffee shop in your neighborhood. You will be recorded via an audio recording device. You will be asked 6 questions, for example: What initiatives have you led in your community to empower the Latinx community? What effect is the national debate on immigration having on the empowerment of Latinx in your community and Chicago?
After the interview concludes, Mr. Cuevas will encrypt the audio in a personal hard drive and he will transcribe the responses that will be used to complete a Master’s thesis. Your name will not be specifically mentioned in the study, but instead it will indicate location such as, “Alderman of the southwest side.” Once the thesis is complete and accepted, all audio will be permanently deleted.
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How long will this study take and how many people will be in the study? Participation in this study will take 60 minutes and include 12 of participants, all elected officials.
What risks and discomforts might you experience from being in this study? The risks are minimal and are no greater than those encountered in day-to-day life. Since there will be an audio recording of the interview there is a minimal potential risk of loss of confidentiality. The potential social risks include alterations in relationships with others that are to the disadvantage of the subject, including embarrassment, loss of respect of others, labeling a subject in a way that will have negative consequences, or in some way diminishing those opportunities and powers a person has by virtue of relationships with others. Economic risks include loss of wages or other income and any other financial costs, such as damage to a subject's employability, as a consequence of participation in the research.
How could you benefit from this study? You will receive no direct benefit from participating in this study; however, this study will add to the canon of Latino politics in the field of Latinx and Mexican-American studies. Current and future students, researchers, and the general public will learn about Latinx political empowerment through the lens of Chicago elected officials.
What data will we collect from you? As part of this study we will collect an audio recording with the subject’s responses to a structured 6 question interview.
How will we protect your information? We will protect your information by not referring to your name in the published study. Your name and any other information such as your Ward or District that can directly identify you will be stored separately from the data collected as part of the project. In order to minimize the risk for loss of confidentiality, we will only collect personal information that is absolutely essential to the research activity. If personal data must be collected, it should be coded as early in the activity as possible and securely stored so that only the principal investigator may access it. Identities of individual subjects will never be released without the express consent of the subject
The data that we will collect about you will not be shared with any other researchers.
Information about you may be given to the following organizations: Representatives of UT Austin and the UT Austin Institutional Review Board
We plan to publish the results of this study. To protect your privacy, we will not include any information that could directly identify you.
What will happen to the information we collect about you after the study is over? We will not keep your research data to use for future research. Your name and other information that can directly identify you will be deleted from the research data collected as part of the project.
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How will we compensate you for being part of the study? You will not receive any type of payment for your participation.
Your Participation in this Study is Voluntary It is totally up to you to decide to be in this research study. Participating in this study is voluntary. Your decision to participate will not affect your relationship with The University of Texas at Austin or your relationship with the Principal Investigator. You will not lose any benefits or rights you already had if you decide not to participate. Even if you decide to be part of the study now, you may change your mind and stop at any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer.
If you decide to withdraw before this study is completed, all audio recordings, transcription material, and anything attributed to your name will be permanently deleted.
Contact Information for the Study Team and Questions about the Research
If you have any questions about this research, you may contact: Ismael Cuevas, Graduate Student, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University of Texas-Austin Phone: 773-720-1012 Email: [email protected]
Contact Information for Questions about Your Rights as a Research Participant If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or wish to obtain information, ask questions, or discuss any concerns about this study with someone other than the researcher(s), please contact the following:
The University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board Phone: 512-232-1543 Email: [email protected]
Please reference study number 2019-09-0091
Your Consent
By signing this document, you are agreeing to be in this study. Make sure you understand what the study is about before you sign. We will give you a copy of this document for your records. We will keep a copy with the study records. If you have any questions about the study after you sign this document, you can contact the study team using the information provided above.
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I understand what the study is about and my questions so far have been answered. I agree to take part in this study.
______Printed Subject Name
______Signature Date
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