NOVEMBER, 2022
U.S. Latinos and the mid-term elections
According to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 34.5 million Latino Americans are eligible to vote this year, making Latinos the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last midterm elections. U.S. Latinos represent 62% of the total growth in U.S. eligible voters during this time.
From 2000 to 2018, Latinos were the biggest drivers of growth in the nation’s eligible voter population growth, with increases in all 50 states and D.C.
In one state, New Mexico, Latinos make up a higher share of the total eligible voter population than any other racial or ethnic group. This includes Americans who are White alone and non-Latino.
U.S. Latino eligible voters tend to be younger than eligible voters overall. The median age of Latino eligible voters is 39, nine years younger than the median age of all U.S. adult eligible voters, which is 48. Only about three-in-ten Latino eligible voters (32%) are age 50 or older, compared with nearly half of all U.S. eligible voters (47%).
A significant portion of U.S. Latinos say neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party represent or care about them, according to the latest Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll in partnership with Noticias Telemundo.
28% of respondents said neither party cares about Latinos. 33% said Democrats care about Latinos, compared to 11% who said the same about Republicans. 22% say both parties take Latinos for granted. Around 25% said the GOP takes Latinos for granted, compared to 19% who said that about Democrats. These latest findings have created great uncertainty in close races where Latinos could be critical in the upcoming midterms.
Fintech is playing a new role in the New Mainstream Economy
For decades, the U.S. Latino cohort has been labeled as “unbanked” or “underbanked.” According to a Fintech report by Plaid, U.S. Latinos no longer fit that categorization as they over-index versus the general population in the adoption of fintech (the use of computer programs and other technology to support or enable banking and financial services.)
The report states that 95% of U.S. Latinos are using fintech. The leading reasons why appear to be saving time, saving money, and reducing financial stress and fear. Fintech allows anyone, regardless of location or other circumstances, to access banking, insurance, credit, and even cryptocurrency. The daily users of fintech among U.S. Latinos rose from 37% pre-pandemic to 48% today.
As noted in a fintech article in HispanicAd.com by Karla Fernandez Parker, “This is a watershed moment for Hispanics at all income levels to take better control of finances. Fintech is a preferred alternative for budgeting, banking, monitoring/improving credit scores, bill paying, investing, and saving.”
The article goes on to note that Chime, a fintech, has become the largest “neobank” in the U.S., with over 12 million customers. That customer base puts Chime in sixth place of all banks in the U.S. With its recent partnership with Walgreens, Chime has hit the mainstream, as its customers can make deposits in cash at any of the 8,965 Walgreens across the country.
Traditional banks are paying close attention as the U.S. Latino cohort, the leading source of growth in our economy, is taking greater control of its money through technology. U.S. Latinos happen to also be the leading adopters of new technology in our country.
U.S. Immigrants have a lower crime rate than native-born Americans …
even in cities along the U.S. Mexican border
Consistent with overwhelming evidence from previous studies, the latest FBI crime data once more shows no evidence that U.S. immigrants, including those who are undocumented, commit more crimes than native-born Americans. In fact, the latest data shows that even those communities along the U.S.-Mexico border have lower violent crime rates than other U.S. cities similar in size.
On average, the eight cities cited — Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Eagle Pass and El Paso in Texas, Sunland Park in New Mexico, Yuma in Arizona, and San Diego in California — had a violent crime rate of 333.6 per 100,000 residents, compared to 388.57 for the national average. The same cities also had a lower homicide rate of 4.5 per 100,000 residents in 2021, compared to 6.8 in the nation.
“Simply put, we found that undocumented immigrants have lower felony arrest rates than both legal immigrants and, especially, native-born U.S. citizens,” says study co-author Michael Light, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
This latest study confirms a 2019 report published by the National Academy of Sciences USA that showed between 2012 and 2018 undocumented immigrants in Texas were less than half as likely to be arrested for violent crimes or drug offenses and less than a quarter as likely to be arrested for property crimes compared with their U.S.-born neighbors.
Some candidates in the midterm elections have focused on illegal immigration and have portrayed border communities as dangerous and lawless. Those claims are simply not borne out by overwhelming data collected over the past decade.
When California became a sanctuary state in 2017—limiting state and local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities—crime rates did not rise. The reality is that immigration policy is not about crime, but rather about economics. As the number of immigrants into our country has fallen, the growth of our labor force has also fallen dramatically, now at zero growth. Meanwhile, nearly 11 million jobs are going unfilled.
A new novel, ALIENS: VASQUEZ, redefines the Latina character Pvt. Vasquez
As reported in AXIOS, a new novel by Violet Castro to be released this month provides the backstory on Pvt. Vasquez, the fictional Latina member of the U.S. Colonial Marine Corps in the 1986 hit sci-fi movie, Aliens. Castro, a Mexican American writer from San Antonio, Texas who now lives in London said she pitched the idea for the book a few months ago after thinking about the big influence the character had in such a small role.
As she told AXIOS, “”It was one of the few depictions that kind of broke the mold of a domestic worker, farm worker, or gangbanger. I saw her and I was like, wow, look at this brown woman. She has this bandana and she’s unapologetic about who she is.”
Castro said that, for her book, she reimagined Vasquez as someone linked to the soldaderas — the women who took up arms during the Mexican Revolution. In the book, Vasquez uses Santa Muerte, the folk saint of death, for survival.
This new backstory is in contrast to the James Cameron film about Vasquez’s life, which defines her as a former gang member and possibly undocumented back on Earth. Also in that film Vasquez is not played by a Latina actor.
Castro noted that in her new book, Vasquez comes from a military background which inspires her to travel to space. She declined to provide any additional details, saving that for readers to discover.
Raúl Vargas named CEO of Farmers Group Inc.
Raul Vargas will take over as CEO of Farmers Group Inc. effective January 1, 2023, succeeding Jeff Dailey who will continue as President of the company. Vargas, will also be a member of the Zurich Group Executive Committee, which currently oversees sales and distribution activities at Farmers New World Life and Farmers Financial Solutions.
As he told Al Dia, “I’m dedicated to working with our talented team to drive sustained growth and continuously enhance the experience of our valued customers. I am thankful to Jeff for his continued leadership, and I look forward to working closely with him to build on the work he’s accomplished.”
Vargas went on to note, “As a CEO and business leader, I enjoy the accountability given and the freedom to make things happen. Developing businesses and seeing them grow and have an impact on their communities is truly rewarding.”