CHICAGO - IL Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-4CD) is ramping up his push for comprehensive immigration reform in Barack Obama's second term as president.
"There is pressure on Republicans to change their tune but there is also pressure on Democrats to deliver," Gutierrez said on an NPR interview this week. "Latino voters put a lot of faith in President Obama and he has another four years because of that faith. But now he has to exert the muscle needed to forge the coalition of mostly Democrats and a few Republicans to get a bill passed and implemented."
Along with Gutierrez push, a new Pew study indicates that in just one generation, the nation's Latino vote will skyrocket to 40 million. Illinois is one of the states which will add to the annual combined number of 800,000 new Latino voters:
Pew’s study echoes an earlier analysis by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute that shows much of the growth, also driven by Latinos who are U.S. citizens aging into the electorate, will be in the Southwest and states with growing minority populations such as Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, and New York.
The Pew report used Census Bureau data, Election Day exit polls, and a new nationwide survey of Hispanic immigrants.
Highlights of the report:
- 11.2 million—Eligible Latinos voters who don’t cast a ballot.
- 5.4 million—Legal permanent residents, meaning they have a green card or other documentation but are not yet eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
- 7.1 million—Undocumented immigrants who likely would be eligible to vote if Congress passes immigration reform that creates a path to U.S. citizenship.
- 16 million—U.S.-born Latino children who will age into the electorate by 2030.
