Just a couple of weeks ago, Abby Palacios went to a local Mexican restaurant with her niece for dinner when she saw a man with a “Make America Great Again” hat walk in.
She started shaking.
“I literally got my check and left, because I was like, that is not the kind of energy I need to be around,” Palacios said.
President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential win shocked voters when they found out 48% of Latinos voted for him, despite his anti-immigrant rhetoric. According to Pew Research Center, this is the highest percentage ever received by a Republican presidential nominee.
While many are still surprised over the outcome, others say it makes sense.
Palacios said when she first heard the news, she started to question the people who surrounded her.
“I just would have never guessed that they would have supported and voted for this man,” she said.
Palacios, who owns Chicana Esthetics, a skincare clinic, said she’s made sure people know where she stands politically so that when her clients go in for their appointments, they feel comfortable and safe.
She said 90% of her clients are Latino.
“Being in the world that we live in, where families are getting separated and detained, and then to know that our own people are also Latinos for Trump, who are also turning against us and making them feel like as if they’re superior...” Palacios said.
But Spokane resident Enrique Rico said with many Latinos being predominantly Christian, especially Catholic, Trump’s policies fit with the community’s beliefs and values.
“As years went on, the left went way farther to the left, and they really started to support things like the LGBTQ thing, like for pushing that in school for their children, which I think started to feel very awkward for parents,” he said.
Rico added that he feels that Democratic policies are too lenient in allowing transgender minors access to treatment like puberty blockers and then allowing schools to keep information from parents.
“These are all things that I think that the Latino population understands and recognizes, and although not everyone supports that, I think, obviously, about 48% of voters did when they voted for Trump,” he continued.
Since the start of the year, Palacios said she’s come to find multiple Latinos close to her who voted for Trump.
Just the other day, she said, a friend of hers slid up on her Instagram post on Trump supporters, defending their political stance.
“At that point, it made me realize where she stood, which I had no idea. It blows my mind,” Palacios said. “I’ve seen her at events where it’s for Hispanic communities, and to see her, like, defend this, I was so confused.”
On the west side of Washington, Diana Camacho, a Seattle resident, said she’s also met many Latinos who voted for Trump.
However, she’s also met many who are scared.
That growing split is being seen through recent polls.
Politico reported Trump’s support from Latinos has plummeted by 20 points, according to a poll by Somos Votantes, a Latino-led nonprofit organization.
“Our community is very divided. This administration has managed to show there are people who feel superior to the rest just because they have status or because they are of a certain political affinity,” Camacho said.
“Latinos are still unable to generate changes that benefit us long term,” she said.
Wanting to help Latinos who fear Trump’s immigration crackdowns, Camacho posts a few videos a week to more than 3,000 TikTok followers, some from Spokane, who follow her for detailed immigration coverage.
For her, this is the best way she feels she can help support Latinos during Trump’s presidency. Camacho also said with little to no Spanish news on how immigration policy changes can affect Latinos in Washington state, TikTok videos keep it simple and understandable.
“I’m one of those who always went to marches, and now, for personal reasons, I can’t, but I believe this moment is no longer about political parties; it’s about an attack on all of our people just for being Latino. So when I saw the start of this administration, I knew there was going to be a need to share information in Spanish,” Camacho said.
Rico, chairman for Spokane County Young Republicans, said he voted for Trump both in 2020 and 2024. He said he solidified his vote after feeling like there was a collusion between big media outlets and the Democratic Party, twisting the president’s words.
“I truly felt that Trump wasn’t given a fair shot, and the more I listened to him, the more his policies and platforms made sense to me as someone who wants to be in control of my own life and have my own destiny,” Rico said. “So I suppose that’s what really solidified, just my lack of faith in the media to tell the truth.”
He said he agrees with Trump’s political stance on multiple issues, including crackdowns on immigration and at the southern border.
“I think there was an obvious issue at the southern border where there was just too many people flooding in through the border. And mind you, these aren’t just Latinos, or people from Latin America that were coming. It was people from all over the world, whether that was India, Asia, you know, Africa,” he said. “It was a huge crisis. It was a health crisis, it was a safety crisis. And, you know, unfortunately, cartels were making a ton of money on human smuggling and human trafficking.”
Rico added that there needs to be a deeper dive when it comes to the media reporting on Latinos who are U.S. citizens and getting detained.
He said he believes sometimes people with similar names can get mistaken for someone they’re not and can cause confusion for Customs and Border Patrol agents.
In that case, he feels like people are warranted an apology.
Still, he said he agrees with CBP agents detaining people who don’t have proper documents, whether it’s someone who overstayed a visa or didn’t go to their court dates.
“Customs and Border Patrol has a right to at least take them to the facility and question them. The United States of America is a sovereign nation. We absolutely have the right to make sure that the people migrating here are doing it appropriately and maintaining their hearings,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for countries to enforce their sovereignty.”
He also said it’s unfair for undocumented immigrants to come to the United States illegally and get immediate access to benefits.
“I truly think that they need to go. I don’t see fairness in that,” Rico said.
With close to three years left of Trump’s presidency, Palacios said she’s waiting to see how Latino voters will shift by the next presidential election.
“These policies are affecting innocent people who actually want to create better lives for themselves, not only for themselves, but our future kids, our grandchildren later down the line. It doesn’t feel real right now, being in the world that we live in and then knowing our own people are also Latinos for Trump,” she said.
