Latino advocacy group: Trump ‘gets an F,’ jury still out on Harris

An influential Latino civic engagement group is preparing to issue report cards for campaign policy positions on issues they say are critical to Latino representation, and former President Trump’s grade is baked in.

The group, Mi Familia Vota (MFV), issued a yardstick for its ratings in its 2024 public policy agenda, which was shared with the Trump and Harris campaigns.

“We’re rating the priorities of the community, and we are rating the quality of the politicians at a time when we’re facing so many attacks in so many important issues in our community. Our top priority as an organization is to make sure that voters have all the information that they need from a trusted organization like Mi Familia Vota,” said Héctor Sánchez Barba, president of the organization.

Sánchez added that the group is in conversations with Vice President Harris’s campaign to gauge the two organizations’ policy compatibility, but Trump’s history will likely seal his fate in the new ratings.

“What I can tell you in advance is that Donald Trump, based on his presidency, based on Project 2025, he gets an F. And not only an F, MAGA gets a warning sign from our community. The MAGA movement and Donald Trump are the biggest enemies that we have in the Latino community. [They don’t] support any policy issue that we’re releasing today. That’s what we know for sure,” said Sánchez.

The progressive group’s Trump antagonism is not surprising, but the hold on a Harris ranking highlights the desire of Latino advocacy groups to play a bigger role in crafting Democratic policy positions.

MFV representatives told The Hill the group sent letters out to both campaigns on Tuesday, and had thus far not heard back from the Trump camp, while the Harris campaign was engaging in conversations.

The Hill did not immediately receive a response from either campaign.

Still, MFV’s policy agenda is based on input from a broad array of right-, center- and left-leaning groups that together structured a Latino policy agenda when Sánchez led the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

“It included all the groups, from business groups to some conservative groups to very progressive groups. So it’s an agreement of where we stand as a community, and it’s an agreement of where we stand on the top policy issues,” said Sánchez.

The MFV policy agenda is divided into eight categories, including voting rights, the economy, reproductive rights and immigration.

In each category, the policy agenda has a variety of general and specific prescriptions of varying impact. For instance, on immigration the group asks for federal statute to modernize its language to avoid labeling people as “illegal,” but it also outlines specifics on improving immigration and naturalization services.

Though MFV is mostly known for its turnout campaigns in key battleground states, the new rankings are part of the group’s expansion from a voter turnout network into a player in the Latino policy space.

“This is going to be a central tool for the Latino community to have good information. We are the community that receives the largest number of misinformation and disinformation — it’s affecting how Latinos and Latinas vote in the nation,” said Sánchez.

“There is a direct correlation between our quality of life and understanding the policy issues and making sure that we vote in historical numbers again.”