For decades, the Democratic Party has dominated the Latine vote because of shared values like civil rights and immigration reform. However, in the last decade, a subset within the influential Latine voting bloc has drifted to the far right. In Paola Ramos’s new book, “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America,” she breaks down the deeply internalized cultural, historical, and psychological forces that are driving this small but growing group toward extremism.
“Over the last few years, I interviewed Latinos along the border, in evangelical communities, and in Miami, trying to understand why Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric was being normalized. Christian nationalism and anti-communist messaging resonated with them,” Ramos says. “Writing this book allowed me to fully process these trends and categorize these patterns as tribalism, traditionalism, and trauma.”
Ramos noticed a shift in 2016 during Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president, noting the unexpectedly lower turnout of Latine voters. But the book’s concept was solidified during the November 2020 elections, after observing the normalization of Trump’s anti-immigrant sentiments.
Overall, according to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020. That’s about 15 percent of eligible voters.
According to a new national NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC poll, 54 percent of Latino voters support Harris. Meanwhile, 40 percent of Latinos support Trump, and 6 percent are unsure or wouldn’t vote at all. This shift could have significant implications for the upcoming election, potentially reshaping the political landscape.
“If that’s not alarming for political strategists, then I think that does a massive disservice to Latines because we need to understand why this is happening sociologically and then politically,” Ramos says.
Ramos’s concept of tribalism, traditionalism, and trauma reflects the firmly embedded identities Latines hold – think internalized racism, colonial legacies, and political trauma.
We interviewed Ramos to explore all three aspects of what’s driving conservative Latine voters in this election cycle. With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, understanding this voting bloc has never been more urgent.
Tribalism: Internalized Racism and Belonging
One of the people Ramos interviewed for her book was self-identifying independent reporter Anthony Aguero, who publishes his work on “an online platform he cofounded, Border Network News, with a fellow Latino, who goes by Oscar El Blue, to cover immigration.” Aguero has dedicated his work to hunting down migrants, constantly referring to them as “illegals” and “smugglers” and associating them with the Third World. Ramos found that the “data does not support Anthony’s criminalization of the migrant community.”
While there’s a need for serious immigration reform at the US-Mexico Border, there are still many misconceptions about Latine immigrants. According to Ramos’s reporting, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed that “undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes” than native-born Americans, domestic trafficking victims are US citizens, according to UNICEF, and 80 percent of individuals caught with fentanyl during border crossings at ports of entry from 2019 to 2024 were actually US Citizens, and not migrants, according to data from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Ramos sees Aguero’s beliefs as being a result of internalized racism. As Ramos puts it, “Generations of Latinos were told to assimilate, to put your head down, to learn English, and to conform to those structures.” A desire to assimilate and belong, especially in proximity to whiteness, is a key reason why some Latinos are drawn to Trumpism.
Traditionalism: Religion and Colonial Legacies
Traditionalism – rooted in colonialism and religion – has been a key driver in the far-right alignment among Latines. Evangelicalism has grown among Latines, and Trumpism has capitalized on this religious shift.
In Ramos’s book, we get introduced to Pastor Luis Cabrera, who opens on stage with, “We’re taking some radical Christians to every state capital. It’s about God and he wants his country back!” Cabrera has also been credited with coining the slogan “Make America Godly Again.” The Nicaraguan-born pastor also turned his small evangelical church into the campaign headquarters in 2022 for Mayra Flores, a MAGA Republican congressional candidate.
A quick glance back at the history of religion in Latin America confirms one important factor Ramos points out: “As Latinos, we have normalized being submissive to indoctrination,” because it’s ingrained in Latine culture and has a way of subtly seeping into our psyche. What makes Christian nationalism “one of the greatest dangers today,” as Ramos writes, is “the ideology based on the myth that the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation.” What makes Latines vulnerable to this type of recruitment? As Ramos writes, “Latinos are the country’s fastest-growing group of American evangelicals,” at 15 percent today, not to mention that Catholicism was “institutionalized across Latin America for 500 years by the Europeans,” as Ramos writes. That’s generations of religious indoctrination drawing to the appeal of law and order messaging, especially in evangelical communities.
Trauma: Political History and Strongman Politics
Cubans from Florida have long been associated with the far right, conservative politics, and the Republican Party, with some believing that the Democratic Party is directly associated with communism. But to truly understand immigrant voters’ motivations, Ramos spoke with medical anthropologist and family physician Dr. Jessica Cerdena to talk about how emotional wounds like trauma show up in American politics.
Trauma is defined as “an emotional response to a terrible event,” particularly political trauma. Dr. Cerdena said that “more than 75% of migrants from Latin America to the U.S. report histories of trauma, which can be passed down through generations.”
It can show up as hyper-vigilance, intrusive memories, and nightmares, as it is a form of PTSD. In most cases, Dr. Cerdemna says, the main strategy is avoiding anything that reminds you of the trauma. Ramos argues that “countless American administrations have leveraged that pain, exacerbated it, and carefully weaponized it to their advantage,” as she recounts the list of characters featured in the book who, because of the damaging ways they express their politics, made Ramos realize that it was a reflection of the unresolved trauma they carry.
Ramos titled her book “Defectors” to capture the emotional journey of Latines who distance themselves from their own communities and identities. This defection, she argues, is driven by insidious forces like internalized racism, political trauma, and colonialism, weaponized by far-right movements to sway Latine voters. It’s more than politics – it’s about reclaiming a sense of self within a racial hierarchy that equates success with proximity to whiteness.
It’s why we defectors can look like anything from an Afro-Cuban from Miami and former leader of the Proud Boys to a Mexican American Border Patrol agent from Texas to an Afro-Dominican woman from the Bronx who only identifies as a Hispanic.
To fully appreciate the characters Ramos interviews, you must approach this book with curiosity, compassion, and an awareness of your own racial baggage, biases, and traumas. Without that awareness, the themes may seem far-fetched. But ultimately, the book is a reminder of how pervasive trauma runs through our communities.
So, what’s at stake if this growing sector of the Latine far right is ignored? This shift is about more than voting patterns – it’s a reflection of deeper cultural shifts within the Latine community that have the potential to reshape American politics.
As Ramos says, “If Latinos are supposed to be at the heart of the majority-minority future of America, and some are finding comfort in whiteness and traditional values, this could have huge repercussions for what 2045 looks like.”
Cindy Y. Rodriguez has spent 17-plus years crafting powerful stories. One of her proudest achievements is hosting and producing the Webby-honored and Emmy-nominated five-part docuseries “Hay Dinero,” which offers practical financial planning tips for the Latinx community and highlights the deep connection between culture and generational trauma. Cindy’s commitment to creating diverse and impactful content shines through in her work, especially when addressing topics like identity, culture, and race. Her work includes co-launching Vivala as well as HuffPost’s Latino Voices, and cofounding the award-nominated feminist podcast “Morado Lens,” which has conversations spanning sex, culture, and spirituality.
