The vote of young immigrants is fundamental in the next presidential elections that will take place in the United States in November; The children of migrant communities have reached voting age so the second and third generations are ready to make decisions for themselves, their family and their community.
"We believe that it is essential that our communities go out to vote and there are possibilities to make the change, to make a difference, we know that the white vote and the African American vote are almost tied, but the vote of the Latino community can make a difference," This was stated by Adelina Nicholls, during the radio program Hecho en California with Marcos Gutiérrez.
Adelina Nicholls is a sociologist from the Autonomous University of Mexico and has lived in Atlanta for many years and is currently the executive director of the Georgia Human Rights Alliance, in addition to having worked with the most vulnerable immigrant communities for years.
For Adelina, people who can vote have a privilege that many would like; Young people who are new voters come from Latin American families, the majority of whom are undocumented; however, they do not feel enthusiastic about voting because they do not sympathize with the candidates and their proposals.
According to migration statistics from the 2023 annual bulletin of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the majority of migrants who enter Mexico do so with the intention of reaching the southwest border of the United States. In 2023, a total of 2,542,074 immigrant encounters were recorded on the southwest border of the United States.
In 2018, a large number of young children of immigrants were noted who would vote for the first time, which is why one of the most important programs of civic outreach was initiated. This program is focused on voting issues to raise awareness of the importance of citizen participation, Nicholls commented.
Election issues, Nicholls assured, should be of interest to young people, since they directly impact the opportunities that may arise for them, their friends and family, for example: in Georgia, for approximately 25 years, citizens have not access to a driver's license and face constant violations.
"What we ask is that the vote be to protect the communities, that this privilege be well used to help and not to divide, because the vote is about us, not about them, the candidates," he stressed.
Nicholls is working on issues related to voting, especially the impact that Latin American communities have to participate, since they are the ones that face the greatest misinformation or rejection for not feeling like an important sector.
The work he has done in the state of Georgia has been organizing grassroots communities, mainly immigrants, where he has been working for 25 years with low-income communities, giving priority to rural areas.
"We consider that this work is essential to create a network aware of the needs of these migrant communities, whether they have documents or without documents," said Nicholls.
Finally, he commented that although the demographic change is coming, a change in mentality is necessary to really take into account the young people who represent the future of the country.
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