By Janet Murguía
Most people know us for our advocacy work, such as championing Latino priorities in Washington and Austin and helping to register, educate and mobilize Hispanic voters.
But while empowering our community politically in a non-partisan and bipartisan way is key, most of the work our organization and our network of nearly 300 affiliates, community-based organizations across the country do is to help empower Latinos and Latinas economically.
I’m very proud of the work that our affiliates in South Texas are doing, working with elected and appointed officials on both sides of the aisle, and we and all our billions, have helped millions of Hispanic children get the quality education they deserve and put them on a path to achievement.
We’ve helped thousands of workers build the skills they need for good, paying jobs that help support their families, and we have assisted thousands of families in buying a home. In fact, just a month and a half ago, we celebrated helping our 50,000th family become first-time homeowners. That’s how we’re changing the landscape. We’re helping our community to build wealth that can be transferred to their families.
What we do has helped the Latino community, but we also believe the work we do as our mission states helps strengthen America by expanding opportunities for the Latino community. And the reason is simple. In short, the Hispanic community is the economic engine of this nation.
Just look at the numbers. We are among the fastest growing populations in the country, but we are also the fastest growing group of workers, nearly 80 percent. Eighty percent of new workers in this decade are Hispanic, and between 2020, and 2040, 70 percent – seven, zero… 70 percent of net new homeowners will come from our community, and I don’t have to tell you that we, especially Latinas, are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs and small business owners. According to a recent study by Stanford University’s School of Business, Latina businesses grew by 87 percent between 2018 and 2023 and generate $65 billion a year. And the Latino community as a whole represents $4.1 trillion in spending power.
In other words, if we were a country as a Latino community, we would have the sixth largest GDP in the world. In short, we are the employees, executives, taxpayers and entrepreneurs who are not only contributing mightily today to our nation’s economy, but we are also the community the rest of America will rely on for their future well-being. It’s important for us to understand that this is the time we should be investing in the Latino community so that we can contribute all we can now and into the future.
However, I am very concerned by the direction the country is going in right now. This is not the time to be pursuing policies that are detrimental to our economic prosperity. Yet this summer, we saw the passage of a bill in Congress and signed by President Trump that makes staggering cuts in health care, education and nutrition assistance, among others.
It is estimated that nearly half of all children in the US could lose access to health care or healthy foods. It could also lead to 4 million Hispanics losing their health insurance, and the loss of Medicaid funding will have severe consequences for hospitals, especially in rural areas such as much of South Texas.
And just last month, the Trump administration announced it would be ending federal support for our country’s Hispanic serving institutions, the colleges and universities that largely serve our Latino students. we have to be aware and informed of what the results and impact of these decisions are. These institutions are the backbone of higher education in their communities, including the Rio Grande Valley, universities like UTRGV have educated generations of Latino and Latina students in South Texas. HSIs have provided an avenue to higher education that is too often unavailable to many of our students. In fact, two thirds of all Hispanic undergraduates attend an HSI. The loss of federal funding will devastate students and will further devastate the economy of South Texas. We need Congress to restore funding for these vital institutions and programs like migrant education and other programs that many of our families, maybe many of you benefited from, are on the chopping block, and while the impact of many of these funding cuts is still to Come.
The Rio Grande Valley is also seeing the impact of ICE raids and the administration’s increase in funding for mass deportation. We believe at unidos us, and I think it’s true for our community, that any of those who would mean us harm or our threat to our national security, should be deported. But that is not what is happening. The vast majority of those being detained and deported are not criminals, contrary to what is being said by the Trump administration. Instead, the administration is focused on targeting workplaces such as restaurants, construction sites and shopping centers. As a result, businesses in the RGV are losing employees and customers. Business is down, and the Valley’s economy is suffering. We are seeing similar situations across the country. The bottom line is that all these policies, funding cuts to critical programs and random cool and costly and ineffective, mass deportation actions hurt our economy and compromise our future.
We are not on the path to economic prosperity. Actually, it’s just the opposite. What we need instead is a road map that puts our community and our country on the road to economic prosperity, and that is what UnidosUS is working on.
We are traveling across the country holding sessions with our affiliates and other community leaders to hear from them. We are hearing about their challenges and their needs. I’ll be meeting with a group of leaders here in the Valley this afternoon. We will couple these community insights with research and polling data to develop an economic prosperity agenda that we believe will unlock America’s economic potential, benefiting all Americans. I believe that we have the obligation and also the ability to fight for policies that help everyone thrive and prosper.
There are 66 million of us. We make up 20% of this country. Eight out of 10 Latinos are US citizens, one out of every four children in this country is Hispanic, and here in Texas, Hispanics represent nearly half the state’s population, and for those under 18, more than half. We have the power of our numbers, the power of our pocketbooks, the power of our voice and the power of our vote. And even if some try to dilute our representation through redistricting, we will use all the electoral power we possess to stop them.
For example, here on the ground, we can all do our part. Express your concerns, post and like and share on social media, attend congressional town hall meetings, register and vote in every election you can and encourage your friends and neighbors to do their part as well together. I know of no group like Latino leaders who can be beacons of change that light the way forward. We must continue to push back and call out what is wrong, but we also have a responsibility to stand up for what is right and offer a vision that lays a path forward for our country Because we do believe in a nation of hope and opportunity built on noble ideas like equality and mutual respect. We believe in a nation of laws that recognizes the dignity of each and every one of us. We believe in a nation that understands our mutual prosperity depends upon all of us having a shot at our own American dream. A good job that can help support our families, a chance to start our own businesses, a decent education for our children, access to quality health care, the ability to afford a home and safe neighborhoods.
Change will come. It won’t come overnight, but it will come, and it will come with hard work, sustained protests, sustained engagement and advocacy.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary formed part of the keynote address Janet Murguía gave at the 2025 Latina Leadership Conference hosted by the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Murguía is president and CEO of UnidosUS, which was formely known as the National Council of La Raza. UnidosUS is the United States’s largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization.
