{"id":5084932,"date":"2016-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/trump-candidacy-leads-growing-number-of-danbury-latinos-to-become-citizens-so-they-can-vote\/"},"modified":"2016-04-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T04:00:00","slug":"trump-candidacy-leads-growing-number-of-danbury-latinos-to-become-citizens-so-they-can-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2016\/04\/04\/trump-candidacy-leads-growing-number-of-danbury-latinos-to-become-citizens-so-they-can-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Candidacy Leads Growing Number of Danbury Latinos To Become Citizens So They Can Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo credit: Whitney Curtis\/USA TODAY.com
\n 
\nThey\u2019ve been arriving since January in numbers that have exhausted staff at the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury<\/span><\/a>.
\nEcuadorians, Dominicans, Mexicans, Guatemalans and Colombians previously content with permanent legal status suddenly want to become citizens and claim their right to vote.
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“We are extremely busy – this is no joke,” says Andrea Contreras<\/span><\/a>, the executive director of the Hispanic Center, which has been assisting up to 10 new citizenship applications each week for the past three months. “It has been overwhelming for us, and we are surprised how many people want to become citizens.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The local surge in interest in citizenship apparently is part of a larger national trend of Latinos registering to voice their objection – one vote at a time – to inflammatory comments about immigrants by GOP front-runner Donald Trump<\/span><\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A record 27 million Hispanics are expected to be eligible to vote this year, in part because of immigrants going through the naturalization process as they are in Danbury. The other major trend driver is Latino millennials such as Stephani Figueroa<\/span><\/a>, who is old enough to vote this year in her first presidential election.
\n“I heard about some of the things that Trump said and I definitely don\u2019t like it because we are all working here and we are all part of the community,” said Figueroa, 20, the Danbury-born daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant. “What he said about immigrants and other nationalities has made him one of the top candidates, just because he is being a racist.”
\nTrump\u2019s spokeswoman did not respond to a request on Friday to share his strategy to win the state\u2019s 280,000 Latino voters in the April 26 Connecticut primary.
\nTrump has suggested there is no issue after angering Latinos by calling Mexicans criminals and promising to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. At a Feb. 26 debate, Trump noted he won the Nevada primary with Hispanic backing, saying “I\u2019m doing very well with Hispanics.”
\nTwo Latina candidates who are courting support for state office – Newtown Democrat Eva Bermudez Zimmerman<\/span><\/a> and Danbury Republican Emanuela Palmares – are not so sure.
\n“For every vote he might gain with that negative campaigning, he is going to lose a vote from someone who knows a family who needs immigration reform,” said Zimmerman, who is running against the GOP\u2019s Rep. Mitch Bolinsky<\/span><\/a> to represent the 106th District.
\nPalmares, the first Brazilian to run for state office, said Trump\u2019s statements clash with the principles of social justice she believes in. Palmares is running to represent the 110th District held by Democrat Bob Godfrey<\/span><\/a>.
\n“I think that whenever you see two extremes being so loud and pulling people apart, it is really the birth of a very diverse middle ground,” said Palmares. “It\u2019s my hope that from this whole national conversation we are having that a lot of new leaders are going to be born that are going to strive to……..”
\nTo read full article: http:\/\/m.newstimes.com\/local\/article\/A-Trump-effect-in-Connecticut-7223353.php<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  They\u2019ve been arriving since January in numbers that have exhausted staff at the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury. Ecuadorians, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,983,984],"tags":[1063],"ppma_author":[565],"class_list":["post-5084932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democracypolitics","category-ma-politics","category-ri-politics","tag-ctdanbury-immigration-reform-marchhispanics-in-danburyimmigration-reformlatino-voterspresidential-race-and-hispanic-voterstrump-and-hispanics"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jermaine Smith","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/author\/jay\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"  They\u2019ve been arriving since January in numbers that have exhausted staff at the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury. 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