Latest / 775 Alive / Ep031: Nevada's Hispanic Question (Guest: Erica Neely)

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Ep031: Nevada's Hispanic Question (Guest: Erica Neely) · 775 Alive

• 0:03
  Welcome to the 775 Alive podcast, your rural Nevada headquarters for decoding politics, economics, and general global shenanigans. I'm Crystal Newton, your business strategist, breaking down why Nevada's hustle is stronger than a sagebrush root in a windstorm. Here with my trusty co-host, Scott Gavorsky, PhD historian, here to explain the smart lessons of history, even if we are likely to ignore them. Grab your boots for a wild ride through today's most important news.
• 0:31
  Scott: Okay, welcome back to 775 Alive. We're Innovation Space on North Rancho in Las Vegas. So, a shout out again to Pauline Lee and Schayden Gorai for helping us and Alan Hedrick for opening the door for us this morning. We wanted to have a discussion today with Erica Neely. You know, big a big activist, Republican activist down here running for Assembly District 9.
• 0:58
  Erica Neely: That's right.
• 1:03
  defeating Democratic Speaker of the House, Steve Yaeger, right? Uh back there, but she also head up the it's the Hispanic Latin Alliance you head up. Because this is sort of a a big, a big issue we want to talk about. There's a lot of concern of course in the 775 as there is across the country uh on the issue of Hispanics, assimilation, immigration and all this. So, you know, this is definitely one of the people we want to talk to. So, thank you for joining us.
• 1:31
  me. Yes, thank you.
• 1:31
  Crystal: Of course, super important becoming a Democratic super majority. So, I'd like this next midterms for us to flip at least one. Erica, are you going to do it?
• 1:44
  Erica Neely: I'm hoping this is great. Can you go ahead . . . Let's start off. Give us a bit of your background here.
• 1:50
  Erica Neely: So, I'm Erica Neely. I'm running for Assembly District 9. I've been in Las Vegas, lived here, got married,
• 2:01
  raised my kids for 20 years. I came from Los Angeles, California, Little Mexico. Scott: That's right.
• 2:07
  Erica Neely: Born and raised in California. My parents, um, they have been they've been been together for over 50 years. So, I come from a very traditional family unit, one single unit home. Um, I'm I'm the third of six siblings. Um, I love America. And um, yeah.
• 2:20
  Erica Neely: Crystal: We were talking before the show and I asked if she had kids. She's like, "Yes." And I'm like, "How many?" She's like, "A lot." Erica Neely: A lot. [laughter] So, my mom had six kids and um I I have six kids.
• 2:33
  Erica Neely: Scott: Oh, okay. And we met a couple at an event a couple weeks ago.
• 2:41
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: That's right. You met four of them.
• 2:47
  Erica Neely: because--and I promise Crystal I'll keep the census stuff light for this. She doesn't like us talking about the Census before dark. But right now, Nevada, based on, you know, the Census Bureau just released a 2024 American Community Survey estimates back in September. So, we're just over 30% Hispanic across the state, but it's very divided. So if we look at the 15 rural counties and everything except for Clark and Washoe, only about 20% of the population out there is Hispanic and it's it's not evenly spread. It's largely concentrated. Elko County where I'm from, she's from Humboldt. We're both a little over 25% Hispanic. Churchill and Lyon have big Hispanic populations, but you get down to some of the others and it drops off drastically. So, you know, it's still significantly less than the state as a whole. And only about 7.5% of the Hispanics, according to the Census Bureau, live in those 15 rural counties, right? Um, and we're 11 and a half percent of the population. I guess part of why I wanted to do this is just starting with the debate. Do you see the Hispanic influence growing here in Nevada? And is it equal? And how do you see it developing? I think for my district it has uh 17% Scott: Okay Valley? AD-9.
• 4:16
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Yes. So I would say looking at the numbers from just when Trump ran, 48% voted for Trump. And then I would say um do they make an impact? Absolutely. It was the Latino and the
• 4:34
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Mhm. Yeah. And that's that's sort of interesting because we're looking at it from the other side. Again I looking at the Elko things. Um about just over 25%, like I said, of Elko County is Hispanic. Heavily concentrated in West Windover which is there on the Utah border for us. Uh which is almost 2/3, the two precincts there are 2/3 Hispanic. But they posted some of our lowest turnout in the Elko County.
• 5:00
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Erica Neely: So, one thing I could tell you about Latinos, they're very loyal. Very loyal. They're loyal to Coca-Cola, Bud Light, and Democrats. So, I used to be a Democrat. I was um California, from California. I was into all those policies. And one of the things that got me to switch, my firstborn is a is a boy. And the whole um wait, what was her name? Not Dina Titus. I can't remember her name. Um the whole women's movement. I was all into that. Women. Yes. And then um I got the news that I was carrying a boy and then I had to rethink, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm having a son. And I'm advocating for the opposite, right? For him to have a not so great life, things being harder. Then it it got me to think, well, I have a dad too and a brother. What am I doing?
• 6:02
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: But going back uh to your question is the Hispanic vote if they didn't turn out, it's because they are loyal to the Democratic party and for some reason they cannot switch to the R registration or they'll just simply not vote.
• 6:15
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Scott: Right. And I think that's part of it because that they all also tend to be two of the three precincts in Elko County that have the highest number of nonpartisans, probably automatically registered through the DMV and just aren't making a choice, disengaged. Ironically, the third largest precinct happens to be on the Duck Valley reservation. So, Native American. Although I do want to go back to the comment about the relationship between feminism and these, these political identities because this is something Crystal's actually been following up a bit on, the problem of toxic femininity.
• 6:47
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Crystal: Oh yeah.
• 6:56
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: there an inherent contradiction there do you think between you know this Democratic identity and you know, traditional family? Of course, that's been a Republican argument for a long point, but then, you know, we have this conflict with ethnicity and sex in this case.
• 7:07
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Erica Neely: Yes, absolutely. So, going back, so when I used to live in California and when I was a Democrat, you don't see and then I was young, too. Um, you're talking about, you know, in my early 20s and I didn't know I didn't know best. I knew that my you know, my family still there. Still my hus . . . my mom and my dad are still married today. So divorce is not one of the things that I grew up. It, it's not in our household. My uncles and my aunts they're still married big family unit. So this feminist movement was kind of in a sense ignorant, because here I am being raised this way but then I go back into the world get a job, feel empowered, and then go home and pretend. I don't want to say pretend. It was almost like a double-sided mentality point of view. which it doesn't make sense, right? Even explaining it. Um, it doesn't even make sense. I would live this life that my parents came to this country and were able to the American dream. You get married, you own a house, you have kids, they play in the street. But then I was going against my own values, right? Saying, you know, screw men. And I'm, you know, I'm going to get my own diamond ring, my own shoes, my own home. I don't need a man, but yet I'm pregnant. I needed a man to to have a baby. It's, it's the most crazy thing. And I look back and I just, you know, it's it doesn't make sense to think that way. So, I don't know if that answered your question.
• 8:40
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Scott: No, no, it . . . Well, and you know, Crystal might actually have some different thoughts than I have on it [laughter]. But I mean, this is this is when one of the debates we've been having. On the Republican side is there's a feeling among a lot of Republicans looking at Hispanic populations in the US that they are traditional, that they tend to go to religious services of much higher numbers heavy focus on family, heavy focus on traditional gender values. And trying to understand why they're not shifting over to Republicans who have those same values.
• 9:16
  black vote that switched many seats. Scott: Erica Neely: I think it keeping their tradition, family unit, food, language. I mean, I understand it. I'm Hispanic. I've been Hispanic, teaching my kids Spanish, um, the family unit. But then, um . . .
• 9:42
  Scott: That's . . . no, no, that's okay. That's okay. No, because I mean this is, this is really a complex complex issue that I don't think anybody has a handle on right now.
• 9:48
  Scott: Erica Neely: You know what converted me? So I'm Democrat. I've been a Democrat all my life. And what made me switch? I had something very impactful for me to say, you know what, I'm done with the Democratic party. And it was the fact that they I came to Nevada because I couldn't afford a home in California. I lived there all my life. Couldn't couldn't get a job that would cover all the bills. Couldn't afford a home. So then I moved to Nevada. Cost of living was wonderful, but I brought my Democrat values with me.
• 10:19
  Scott: Scott: Mhm.
• 10:28
  Scott: In the right and I had to look at myself in the mirror and said and, and at this point I'm a single mom. I'm in, I'm still in power. I'm still a Democrat. You know, I voted for all these Democrat policies, but yet now I'm left with nothing. The bank took my home, the money, and my credit. And I'm out in the street with a son, no job. And that's when I had to look at myself and say, "Look at these policies. I came to this red state that it was working. I came here and it worked for me. I was able to buy a home, put my ch . . . my child in a good school, and then this happened. I voted for Obama. I voted for these policies and I lost everything." That was the day that I switched to Republican because I had to look at the difference. I wasn't in a Democrat state where everything was blue and I could blame Bush and blame this and blame that. Now I'm here. I had to blame myself because this was a red state. So I switch and it goes back to the loyal part, but then something really bad has to happen and it's sad. It happened to me. And never again will I vote Democrat.
• 11:34
  Scott: Scott: So what do you . . . I mean been talked about is the economics, right? That, you know, Democratic economic policies from a lot of perspectives have not actually been too awfully helpful for immigrant communities across the board. But the Republicans have seemed to be reluctant to offer alternatives.
• 11:57
  Erica Neely: I'm glad you brought it up. Actually I disagree. Scott: Okay.
• 12:04
  Erica Neely: of the Latino vote. And a lot of the Latinos are still low income, right? Low income families. Uh, and they are on food stamps. They are on welfare, uh, public assistance, free lunch. I have a list of here of all the things that you're able to get with assistance living, food stamps, section 8, utilities, public schools, free lunches, grants, loans, WIC, diapers, bikes, backpacks, Obama phones, internet, Medicaid, or Medicare, whatever you call that. We're able now to get driver's license, social security, and still 48% of people that still collecting all these services voted for Donald Trump. Why? Because the economy does matter, jobs, and inflation. So meaning even though you're on assisted living, right, or need help from the government. Donald Trump was able to break that barrier and said, "Look, with all this help, it still matters. Inflation, economics." And Donald Trump was able to deliver on that message. They probably didn't switch from Democrat to Republican registration, but they did vote Republican. Why? Because the economy did matter and because they're at still at the bottom of the barrel. They they realized that the inflation did matter.
• 13:09
  Erica Neely: Scott: Mhm. Do you think that to the last election, a lot of people voted top ticket and then left it. So then it brings up your point, right? Are the Republicans putting out that same message that Donald Trump put out and Donald Trump is way louder, ruthless. So he got his message across. But what is the Republican party doing to reach out to those voters.
• 13:38
  Erica Neely: Scott: Well and I think it's something we're struggling with right now I mean, you know, you and I have have had quite a bit of talk about the, you know, messaging for for rural Hispanics and how we can sort of start leveraging that a little bit a little bit more. But I think, you know, one of the problems we're sort of struggling with is not getting a feeling about how, how consistent those gains at 48%. Are they going to continue to the next election and, you know, trying to figure out exactly what the trigger is because we have family values on one side, we have economics. To a certain extent, the argument should be they should be interconnected.
• 14:20
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: You're right. Yes. my mom and my dad came to this country. All my siblings are Americans. My cousins Americans. I think there's about two that were not born here. So, that's when you become a single issue voter and it becomes personal. Did I want to see my cousin get deported? No. No. And so, um, I think that's where the problem is. It's it's emotional versus . . . .
• 14:45
  Erica Neely: Scott: Yeah.
• 14:54
  Erica Neely: I think you did a good job laying out how we got to where we are. Um I'm really curious, and a lot of people in Clark County and the Republican side are curious as to how these ICE raids are impacting the Latino community and how that's going to affect how they're going to vote. And so we have a wing of the Republican party that's convinced that these ICE raids are going to completely tank our numbers because people are . . . they don't want to see their family shipped off which is completely understandable.
• 15:25
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: I think helping like my cousin and this is going to be this is going to be the honest truth. So I'm not trying to offend anybody. So, you know, you come to this country, you weren't born here, but you know where to apply for food stamps. You know where to apply to put your children in school, where to go for the fe free backpacks and back-to-school jackets. You know where to go get your Obama phone and but you don't know where to go to apply for citizenship. Okay, so that's the problem. So, now we get to Election Day and ICE we're going to start deporting these people that are here illegally. Wait a minute. Let's educate the people that have a path to victory to say, "Listen, you know where this, this government building is. You know where the public school building is. Please go and get your citizen. Please go fix your papers. Help yourself. Help yourself so that you do have a pathway, so that these things don't happen." But what are we? We're in a state of emergency. People are living here 20, 30 years and they didn't do it. And now it's like, "Oh my god, ICE raids." Um, and I sound like I'm being insensitive and I'm not. The fact is is you know where to take your child to school. You know where the emergency room is. You know where the WIC and Medicaid is. You know exactly where the immigration offices to fix your documents. Do that too. And I think that that's where the the problem is.
• 16:58
  Erica Neely: Crystal: But well, for hard for us to gauge where, how the community is feeling about all of this. And it it sounds like to me what you're saying is everybody in your community knows how to apply legally if they wanted to. So I guess by extension you could also say the ones that are getting deported are the ones that knew how to do it and didn't.
• 17:25
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Exactly. it's--I don't know how to say it. It's . . . .
• 17:33
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: I know what you're saying.
• 17:39
  Erica Neely: they could have remedied the situation and they didn't.
• 17:39
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Well, here's another thing is that, here's another thing and I'm just going to be honest. So the rule of law. When they're coming in, they know they're breaking the law, right? Why don't they go fix their papers? Well, because they were invited here. They were invited here by Biden. The door was wide open. So, how can you deport me if I was invited? I was given a paper. Come on in. And therefore, I applied for this, this, and this. I took my kids to school. That's one aspect. The other aspect is others believe that this used to be Mexico.
• 18:12
  Erica Neely: Crystal: Oh, I have heard that. So, the LA riots, that was a thing.
• 18:20
  Erica Neely: And I'm from and I used to be I was born in LA. So, that that was a big thing. The empowerment. this used to belong to Mexico. This, I deserve to be here. So therefore, why should I fix my papers? And then the other thing is I'll fix them when you you pay for them. Just like you're paying for my food, just like you're paying for my Medicaid. I'll get my immigration when you you pay for them. We had the highest what is it? And you could correct me if I'm wrong, but under the Reagan uh we had a lot of uh amnesty.
• 18:48
  Erica Neely: Scott: Oh yeah.
• 18:55
  Erica Neely: And here's the other thing. Uh because they think that um some of them, not all of them, that this used to be Mexico. That, uh, Oh god, I lost my train.
• 19:00
  Erica Neely: Scott: No, that's okay.
• 19:09
  Erica Neely: there.
• 19:09
  Erica Neely: Crystal: I find that interesting though. I I really I've heard of that. I heard of the This used to be Mexico thing. I heard it during the LA riots and I thought it was just one of these passing kind of fun things to say. It sounds like that's very deep-rooted belief for some people.
• 19:19
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: It is. So it's also lacking in or just remember the history. How did we obtain all these states, right?
• 19:26
  Erica Neely: Crystal: So out of curiosity, sorry, but just just to follow up on that, I'm curious if the Hispanics that believe, you know, California, Nevada is really their land, are they closer aligned to Native Americans than any other group?
• 19:48
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: It could be.
• 19:53
  Erica Neely: like this was our land, you know.
• 19:53
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: I'm saying it could be. My dad um following my dad's history. My dad's from Mexico and my mom's from El Salvador. So, yes, it's uh Indian tribes. You could have them.
• 20:07
  Erica Neely: Scott: Well, I think there's, I think you don't mind going on a digression real quick on this, because I do want to get back to to some of the . . .
• 20:16
  Erica Neely: Crystal: I want to get to the bottom of this. I think Hispanics have the opportunity to teach Americans how to be families again. I think it's our best bet and I want them to win and I want the legal ones to win because they actually believe in our the rule of law which is what we're founded on.
• 20:34
  Scott: Right.
• 20:34
  Scott: Crystal: Like bring back our family values. We love that. We need that.
• 20:40
  Scott: into an interesting point of identity politics. We can start first, because, of course, the US acquires these territories through a legal treaty. Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848. Now of course the argument against that is this is because they had manufactured a war under the . . .
• 21:01
  Scott: before the French. The Polk Administration, although you do have the ongoing civil war, Benito Jaurez and all those.
• 21:07
  Crystal: I have this great visual of you down at the LA riot showing of the Hidalgo treaty. Well, actually . . .
• 21:07
  Crystal: Scott: Well, but this and you know the this gets into a question of treaties, but what was so interesting about that was the Native American dimension because I don't really think it's a correspondence on the land, right, as much as it is . . . . One of the things we see, and I did during the 2020 census, I worked as a tribal partnership specialist.
• 21:29
  Crystal: Crystal: So, more of a violation of sovereignty.
• 21:35
  Crystal: it actually is, is that there's a real . . . there's so much of the Hispanic Latin American population is, from an American bureaucratic standard, mixed race, right? There there's extensive intermixing between the European components and the Native American. And one thing that's been argued, that there is an argument within the Native American community that the Hispanic immigrant should be incorporated into identifying their indigenous identity, right? Because that would show that there's actually more indigenous Americans in the US than the Census Bureau is, is um claiming. But there's also a huge backlash. Well, and one of the problems is how do we classify that, right? And you you've got two problems because Latin American governments for years have discriminated against indigenous communities. So people have learned not to identify um in there. So you talk I don't know if discussed this with your mother but in a lot of countries you know they tell us you know we don't identify as indigenous we identify as Hispanic because that has the European heritage which the government accepts. So they don't want to talk about it to begin with. But the other thing is you get the backlash of Native Americans. It's like, look, we're going to add it. It's almost the same argument on the whites. We're going to add this huge group that isn't really Native American, and they're going to take the money that the federal government's giving to the Native American tribes. So, it's a very odd . . .
• 22:59
  Crystal: Crystal: It's also a pathway to a sovereign nation within our borders.
• 23:06
  Crystal: it could be, except . . .
• 23:06
  Crystal: Crystal: Which would be full circle back. This would be their land again.
• 23:12
  Crystal: back to identity politics and it doesn't work in America.
• 23:12
  Crystal: Scott: No.
• 23:19
  Crystal: go ahead.
• 23:19
  Crystal: Erica Neely: So my dad's from Mexico, my mom's from El Salvador. Usually they don't get along. They fell in love in America. They had American children. They had American children. And within our family, some of them sorry some of them there there's a little bit of conflict with with you know the food's different. Spicy versus not, not spicy, healthier veggies. The language is different. My grandma and and my dad didn't speak the same accent.
• 23:43
  Crystal: Crystal: Aren't there like 27 different native communities in Mexico? I mean, I know there's like 27 states, but there's a ton of different native . . .
• 23:54
  Crystal: Erica Neely: Dialogues. Yes.
• 23:59
  Erica Neely: Yes. And so, um I actually grew up a little bit of that. And so, in California, when I was growing up, I consider myself Hispanic. I went to Puerto Rico. I lived there for a year and I'm like, "I'm like you guys. I'm Hispanic." And they're like no no no you're Mexican. We're Puerto Rican. Right. When I went to Mexico at age 15, my dad wanted me to learn the culture and visit where he grew up. And I'm like, "I'm like you, Mexican." They're like no no no, you're American. And I came here to America and only the Americans accepted me as American. So that identity of politics doesn't work. It's so weird. And I could only speak from my experience, but that is my experience. My dad is Mexican. My mom is Salvadorian. I grew up in California. I visit Puerto Rico. I visit Mexico. And the only nation that will accept you for who you are is American. So, I am proud to say I'm an American with Mexican descent. I love it.
• 24:58
  Erica Neely: Crystal: Yeah.
• 25:06
  Erica Neely: and you know, again, agreeing anecdotes isn't data, right? Uh so personal experience doesn't reflect that, but we see that in in weird ways. I mean, you know, Puerto Ricans are are an interesting example because even though Puerto Rico is not a US state, it is a US territory.
• 25:16
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Yes.
• 25:24
  Scott: Right. So, they they have that sort of citizenship status.
• 25:24
  Scott: Crystal: It's a junior state.
• 25:30
  Scott: they keep, and they keep resisting becoming a state. That's been one of the fascinating things about every seven or 10 years they they vote down becoming a state. Um, which is is fascinating.
• 25:35
  Scott: Crystal: But they get all the subsidies now without having to have the compliance. So, no, that's good. We're good here.
• 25:46
  Scott: Erica Neely: Well, it's the benefit of two because they get to maintain. One of the things they're trying to preserve is their language. Once they become a state, then the schools have to start teaching English. Yes.
• 25:56
  Scott: Scott: Right. And but, you know, you would have looked in the 50s and 60s it was being marketed the same way as the Irish and the Italians and others. I mean this is the basis of West Side Story. Right. Right. We have sort of lost we we don't tend to talk about this anymore in terms of the assimilation of this, this group. We now grouped them all together. You're absolutely right. We laugh quite a bit because in doing rural outreach, are some of our members, Republicans up in Elko that speak Spanish, they have that you, the, theGuatemalan accent, right, which is considered sort of the . . . it's the it's the Hispanic version of the Midwestern accent in the US, right? And it, and it stands out very strongly on the radio that they're just really not part of a Mexican community or whatnot because of that accent. Um, and but then you have a government that's saying, "Oh, Hispanics are the same. They all think the same, 100%. They want this, that, and the other." Um, not to mention the absurdity of being a Hispanic. Antonio Banderas is is a Hispanic and therefore is a member of this group. And Sergio Mendes from Brazil is not because he's technically Portuguese speaking, right? I mean, this is just absurdity on this diversity issue.
• 27:13
  Scott: Crystal: The drama. [laughter] It's just my little rant because I really do think this identity politics at the root of this because I don't think it's working.
• 27:25
  Scott: Erica Neely: It's not. I mean it's when I was naive and I was for the feminist movement it empowered me, right? It empowers me when I'm winning when the Democratic party is winning and then it empowers me when we're losing because then I get the victim mentality that you know this wasn't fair. We're not going to give up. We're gonna fight, fight. So we end up, we win when we lose and we win when we win.
• 27:48
  Scott: Scott: Right. Oh, that's an interesting way of phrasing it. Yeah.
• 27:54
  Scott: Crystal: That's kind of . . . I was trying to gauge exactly when I changed. I grew up in Seattle and I grew up in a liberal community and I voted for Obama.
• 28:09
  Scott: Erica Neely: Certainly.
• 28:18
  Scott: healthcare for everyone. How can you be against that? That's like of course that's almost like a human right." And you know, you buy into these ideas and then me specifically as a female, you're told to get the career and try to do it all and and you know, I'm 40 now and I, you know, I'm well past the this idea that that works. I'm like, you can't have it all and you can't do it all and trying to do it all is stressing us out as women and it's stressing the men out too.
• 28:44
  Scott: Erica Neely: Oh, absolutely.
• 28:50
  Scott: Crystal: And we have these low testosterone levels and like, the entire culture's become dysfunctional almost because we've adopted this feminine sort of way of executing our culture, which is again why I'm really excited that the Hispanic community can bring back those family values. But it is hard to to track where that pinpoint is. And I don't necessarily think Trump's a great person, but he's a strong leader. And that's what I wanted was a strong voice 'cause the feminine way is a little bit cloudy and murky to navigate. You're like, I need, daddy needs to come home and tell everyone where their place is, 'cause this is out of control.
• 29:27
  Scott: Scott: Just for the record, Scott does not necessarily ascribe to that view, but anyway, go on.
• 29:40
  Crystal: No, but it's hard to track. We know where we are and, and Trump's got to, he's got to do a massive overhaul, which is going to be not pretty for anyone. So, we kind of have to dig down as people and figure out where we are, but I'm definitely interested. I feel like the Hispanic community is that is that tipping point group for the entire country. So, I'm just wondering how they're feeling and how this is going to play out and hoping we can get your, at least your district in the red and start to go the other direction. Yeah. But yeah, we don't even know in Clark County. It's hard to for us to . . . we're speculating in Clark County which way is the Hispanic vote going to go and it's hard to guess.
• 30:19
  Crystal: Erica Neely: Yes. Um Yeah. And it's like you said, you look at the different pockets like east like where you do have uh single issue voters where do I want to see my cousin get deported and you vote no, you know, it's like no, I won't vote for the Republicans. But then are you willing to see everything else crumble?
• 30:36
  Crystal: Crystal: Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm looking at this laundry list of incentives to vote Democrat. Why would anyone choose to vote Republican? I mean, it's hard to give up all those free things.
• 30:50
  Crystal: Erica Neely: It is, isn't it? A big that, you know, uh, but you actually, yes, you're right. Um, but you really are selling the next generation. I've had this conversation with my mom. She's still in California. We're I think it's now what? $20 an hour?
• 31:08
  Crystal: Scott: Mhm. Right. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 31:16
  Crystal: $15 an hour, right? $15 an hour. And this is the empowerment of the victimhood. This is just an example of me. Um, you don't have to agree, but let's say you pay an American $15 and then you bring in uh an illegal or non-citizen and you pay them 12. Their argument is, well, you're getting two for the price of one. You're getting two people because I speak bi, I'm bilingual, Spanish and English, and I'm saving you money because you're paying 15, now you're paying 12. Then I have the empowerment of saying I'm only doing the jobs that they didn't want to do. So um it's . . . I guess that was my point. The . . . it empowers you. The Democrat empowers you in that in that sense.
• 32:02
  Crystal: Scott: Well, and this brings up an bit before the show about, you know, you visited Atlanta quite a bit. I lived there for 27 years. And one of the things that always struck me in Atlanta is that the, you know, during the last 30, 35 years, we've had a huge increase in Hispanic population, specifically in Atlanta. And Reagan's amnesty went went a long way towards this. Some of them are doing quote unquote jobs that Americans quote unquote won't do. And I'm putting these in quotes for some I'll get to in a minute. Sort of like at the chicken processing plants, right? But a lot of them were actually going into construction or light manufacturing and they were earning very good wages, right? But what seems to be going on is where the businesses were getting a benefit wasn't paying them low wages. The businesses seem to be, you know, since they were illegal, they weren't going to challenge not getting benefits. They weren't going to challenge safety standards. Um, and that was twofold. So, you're actually creating a worse situation for the immigrants even though they're being paid well. Payroll taxes, insurance, these people don't exist as far as those companies and it's that's a big benefit.
• 33:17
  Crystal: Scott: And not to mention who they're Democratic coalition, which is African-Americans. Erica Neely: Can I just add also the next generation of their own children?
• 33:29
  Crystal: Scott: Oh, how so? That's interesting.
• 33:35
  Crystal: but now they're having children, uh what's the term anchor babies?
• 33:35
  Crystal: Scott: Right, right.
• 33:40
  Crystal: flow . . .
• 33:40
  Crystal: Crystal: Their jobs are get replaced by. . .
• 33:47
  Erica Neely: They don't, they don't, they think okay I'm going to work I'm going to do this for my family but now their children is American and if they believe that immigration is good because you're . . . you understand what I'm saying right? You're shifting away then you're shifting away.
• 34:03
  Scott: And that's interesting because now we're roughly just over 35 years from the Reagan amnesty, right? And of course that we, we saw the uptick after the '90s. And the whole idea, for those of you who who might not be the history junkie I am, that the promise was that Reagan amnesty was going to give an amnesty to the people that were here illegally. Uh, and then we'll fix the system and we won't have this in again. We just start from a zero floor, a clean slate. And then fix it. But they never fixed the immigration system, right? Which is why I think a lot of Republicans are very suspicious of Democratic demands for an amnesty now. It's like it didn't work last time. But we're 35 years in. So somebody that came over under this belief that this, that there would be another amnesty say in the late 30s, or late 90s, early 2000s, they're now at the age their children are about to enter the workplace. We saw this a bit in California with the debate over giving um that you, you know, the dreamer children free college, right? A couple years back. It'd be interesting. Are do you have any data that that's actually taking place? Because that's actually a fascinating dynamic.
• 35:11
  Scott: Erica Neely: I don't have the . . .
• 35:17
  Scott: this isn't on you, but it's fascinating because one of the things that's also the perception from outside is that a split is developing within the Hispanic community.
• 35:21
  Scott: Erica Neely: Yes.
• 35:27
  Scott: immigrated legally and those who don't. And they feel those who don't might be undermining what they've built here. Do do you think that's . . .
• 35:32
  Scott: Erica Neely: Absolutely. And that goes back with the jobs, is that the illegals are coming in taking the jobs. But what they don't realize is that you're also taking away your children's future because if we still have open borders and pathway to citizenship or the amnesty, it's more people the more fluctuations coming in, right? And what happens to the American or your American child.
• 35:55
  Scott: Scott: Right.
• 36:00
  Scott: bit of a that laundry list of benefits is a bit of a Faustian bargain that you make with Democratic, the Democratic party. It's like yes, you will get all these benefits, but we're going to keep the door open on immigration. So it's like yeah, you get these immediate benefits now, but like you said, you're undermining your child's future.
• 36:19
  Scott: Erica Neely: Yes.
• 36:24
  Scott: bargain?
• 36:24
  Scott: Scott: Yeah. No, no. Well, and you know, it's also, it's also fascinating how that actually feeds into another dynamic is that some of the argument has been made that the reason people don't become citizens is we've created an overly complex naturalization process, right? I mean there's a lot of frustration in people who naturalize from other parts of the world, particularly Europe. You know, they're paying the $15, $20,000 to go through the process. They got to wait the five years and it's just an incredibly cumbersome system.
• 36:58
  Scott: Crystal: But they're just in here to make a bunch of money and leave.
• 37:04
  Scott: Scott: Well, we can get to we can get we can get to the idea of remittances here in a second because that's actually a huge issue. But where I was going with particularly this is you have an argument on the Democratic side that one of the problems is these people are illegal because they can't figure out how to work the system, which you disagree with, right? So, it's it's a barrier. It's, it's a lack of opportunity. The Republican argument, and part of what you're making, is they know exactly what they need to do. They're not doing it. That's now a question of will. And so, we're arguing from two different perspective. If there is a barrier, can you hold them responsible, right? But if it's a question of will, I think most people would say yes, they are responsible.
• 37:46
  Scott: Erica Neely: Yes, they are. Just for the the law. They know when to come in. They know that when it's under a Democrat president. The world is watching America. Which president, our elections, they're watching. When I lived in Puerto Rico, and yes, they are a territorial state. They're watching. The Philippines, they're watching. Mexico is watching. And one of the things that I find very fascinating as they're watching our elections and I don't think they understand what it is to be free. And let me explain. Um, when we hear the word, and correct me if I'm wrong, but when we hear the word free, we think of liberty. Yes, we say the word free and freedom.
• 38:27
  Scott: Crystal: But it's not free.
• 38:33
  Scott: No. Well, they think it's free for the taking. This used to be Mexico. It's food stamps. It's free. It's the land of the free. No, it's not the land of free taking. It's the land of liberty. Working hard, preserving the family unit, keeping your street safe so that your child does play out in the street without worrying about all the dangers that, you know, that we, we should be keeping criminals in jail. And I . . . sounds terrible. I'm sure someone's going to cut that.
• 38:57
  Scott: Scott: Well, no, no, we're not going to cut it. But well, no, it's sort of interesting because, you know, this is something I've argued with people for years is that, you know, liberty, of course, comes from the Latin libertas and how it's interpretated . . . interpreted somewhat in the classical world, but particularly through the Renaissance, which changes. Libertas, the idea of liberty, is not being able to do what you want. It's being able not to be under the dominion of somebody else,
• 39:30
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Isn't that fascinating? It's taken completely out of . . .
• 39:35
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Crystal: I was going to take a similar take. To me, freedom really the only thing that it affords you is the ability to choose your struggle. Whereas if you don't have freedom, there's a struggle that's thrust upon you. You just have to deal with it. But yeah, in freedom you still got struggles all the time. You just get to pick what your struggle is, which is, which is pretty good deal. It's a pretty it's better than having it thrust upon you.
• 40:03
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Scott: So, so not a big fan right? Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose, right? [laughter] But anyway, um, but since we brought it up, I, you know, there's been a lot of debate now about the remittance issue. That some of these people are coming over, or Latin Americans coming into the United States, not intending ever to get citizenship, but making money and sending this money back overseas. And there's a lot of talk now in Republican circles about taxing these remittances.
• 40:36
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Crystal: Somalia, well, excuse me.
• 40:42
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: just the Hispanics in this case. But there's a good bit of data. And again, I want to point out this is not new. I mean, one of the things is that a lot of the Italian immigrants in the late 19th century, a significant portion of them would come over here for like 6 months at a time and then go back for 2 or 3 months and then come back over. So, there's this this transatlantic flow. So, this is not a uniquely new immigrant issue.
• 41:02
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Yeah, it goes back to the word free and freedom. You're free to come and take and then and instead of being here, free and freedom is a liberty to live your life. Um, that's the way I see it.
• 41:14
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Scott: That . . . how much do you think that doing something like taxing remittances, which of course is going to provide a new revenue stream to governments to do it. But do you think it would will have an impact on . . .
• 41:25
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Absolutely. And the question is um I I think that would be a vote for the people because where do those taxes go? Do I want government to get bigger? Do we take from this to give here and who loses again, the American people? That would be something that needs to be discussed more in details.
• 41:49
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: with that.
• 41:49
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Crystal: It would be a hard loophole to close though because there's so many other ways to send remittances back that don't require a wire. So you could, you know, send a gift card. There's other ways of doing it that you wouldn't have to pay the tax like . . . I, there'd be gigantic loopholes I think.
• 42:03
  which is exactly the opposite to how a government-dependent system works. Erica Neely: Scott: Right. Well there there isn't anything . . . but it's an interesting it's an interesting approach um I think in part because one of the things it realizes is that the economic impact isn't just isn't just the impact that it's displacing American workers and and this type of stuff and again I think a lot of the American workers that are displaced are actually African-Americans in most cases um which is you know so now Now we've got two classes that are being impacted by these these policies. But it's also sort of a question of recognizing that this is really part of . . . of course we're out in the rurals, so we're very sensitive to this idea of extractive industries, that urban areas come into the rurals and just take agriculture, take gold, take whatever and don't leave a lot in return. But that seems to be part of the argument that's going on now is that this this foreign remittance program is a form of just draining a domestic economy without contributing significantly to it.
• 43:02
  Crystal: So Erica, I have a question about, um, and I wondered if you had any kind of feeling about Claudia Sheinbaum being elected to the President of Mexico, but also how much do you think there needs to be a part of this immigration issue really requires a good partnership with Mexico? Is that . . . is there, you know, something on their side that could definitely improve this situation or is it all just one-sided?
• 43:29
  Crystal: Erica Neely: Um, so you're asking I I what I could say is, you know, it doesn't matter. I'm an American. I live here. I support my president. I could tell you from what I watch that her people, her residents don't support her and in the direction that she's going. So, I think that speaks volumes, right? Um, and . . . I had a feeling about Claudia Sheinbaum. I'm just saying like I, I had thoughts about it when she got elected. I thought this you've got an impossible job.
• 44:00
  Crystal: Erica Neely: Oh my goodness.
• 44:05
  Crystal: That's what I thought.
• 44:05
  Crystal: Erica Neely: The direction that they And so the other question is the immigration. They're our neighbors. Love your neighbor. Be kind to your neighbor. I truly believe that. Um I again I'm Mexican uh descent. But the immigration system I think it's blown out of proportion. Um it needs to be fixed. It needs to be cleaned out. uh we have our own struggles here in our own backyard before we start cleaning somebody else's backyard or offering things that we don't have to offer. I think that's my opinion.
• 44:36
  Crystal: Crystal: Yeah. Yeah. Solid.
• 44:42
  Scott: No. No. And I, you know, I agree with that a lot. And I think I mean unfortunately this is another area I think history impacts because of the the feeling among most Latin American countries but particularly Mexico. Not only the Mexican-American War in 1846. You have the the the Pancho Villa expedition in 1916. Uh it was also an effort to invade Vera Cruz again in that period. This feeling that the Americans are too active. But then again, some of these issues that are spilling across actually do sort of impact us, right? Drug trade is one, cartel violence is one that's emerging very strongly.
• 45:17
  Scott: Crystal: Well, even on a business. And ever since the Trump's been elected, I've noticed a marked change on how people interact with me as a white American in Mexico. They're definitely not as hospitable anymore. And I was like, so I do a lot of thinking about this because it's like we're already engendering bad feelings on this side before we even come into the state-side one. So it's like, man, I wonder we really should work a lot closer with Mexico on this problem. But maybe I'm completely wrong. Well, I don't think it's a . . . it's never a bad idea to try diplomacy. I'll put it that way, right? Give it a shot. Um, so let's . . . We haven't talked a lot about the Hispanic Latin Alliance. What are you doing with that?
• 46:09
  Scott: Erica Neely: Well, I just think that the American dream, like we have as Latinos have the opportunity to preserve the family unit, keep our streets safe. Uh, do the American dream by owning a home. I think we have a great opportunity. So, I encourage and I write about how to obtain that empath to citizen and be more than just a one issue voter. And assimilating to America and the values that uh, that we have in common with the American dream. Right. Well, and that actually brings up an interesting issue about the one issue voter in doing this. Because the Democratic playbook is based on the issue is your identity. So, whatever they say is going to be against your identity, you should vote and ignore the other stuff, right? Whether that be problems with home ownership, raising whatever. But this gets back to the other issue about Hispanic voters now not voting down ballot, right? And I think that's a general issue where you know people don't understand how much power is actually at the state and county and city level. And just think well if we vote for the president or senator or something this everything changes and and these these things don't interact.
• 47:27
  Erica Neely: It goes back to assimilation and when, being educated. So I do town halls for school choice. So that's part of it. So uh educating yourself on the Constitution and the power of the vote, and being a one single issue voter, how you're you're taking away the other issues that it could really frame the whole picture, I guess.
• 47:51
  Erica Neely: Scott: Right. Oh, I like that phrasing. So, well, school choice that gets into your . . .
• 47:57
  Erica Neely: Crystal: Yeah. I have Clark County, the fifth largest school district in the country. It is way too big. Yes.
• 48:05
  Erica Neely: Crystal: And the bloat and the bureaucracy starts to creep in once you've got this top group and a whole bunch of people. It's like all of a sudden things are wayward. I kind of feeling like they Clark County should break up into a few different school districts at the very minimum.
• 48:16
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. But we have a big problem, not just being the fifth largest, which is great. You know, everybody talks about we're the fifth largest. Um, but let's talk about we have the highest um suicide rates in our schools. We've number one some I think in 2020 we were number one 50 uh out of 51 states because they included Puerto Rico, we were number one with 43 suicides.
• 48:41
  Erica Neely: Scott: Right. Yeah. No, it's, it's . . .
• 48:49
  Erica Neely: Under the age of 18.
• 48:49
  Erica Neely: Crystal: 43 out of 300,000. time.
• 48:57
  Erica Neely: Crystal: No, I'm just trying to do the numbers. Very high rate.
• 49:02
  Erica Neely: six children. I have six children and my kids were going to public school, to second grade, and just watching those numbers. I remember one time dropping off my daughter and saying, "Goodbye. I love you." It hit me so hard. If that was the last words, goodbye, I love you. Um, with all the violence and the school shootings and now I have to also worry about suicide um and restorative justice and what they're teaching in the classrooms. So that's when I decided to take um education into um into our hands. Yeah. And started homeschooling. So we've been doing that for six years. Um it was scary um at the beginning and now uh we've done it for six years. I have two kids that graduated from public school, but the other four are homeschooled and they're doing phenomenal and I don't have to worry about um them getting bullied at home. If that doesn't happen, I don't um I don't have to worry about them graduate at a fifth grade reading level because that falls on my shoulders. I make sure that they have breakfast, lunch, and dinner as along with reading,
• 50:06
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Yeah. One of the . . . well there's a lot of difficult things about suicide but especially at that age it's that losing the child is horrific but also that child has a lot of friends.
• 50:22
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Erica Neely: Yes.
• 50:28
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: witness something firsthand that their brains really aren't prepared for. And I that's really it's almost like a social contagion. It can start to happen. And I feel for you as a parent. And I would pull my kids out too because I don't want them exposed to them knowing someone directly that killed themselves cause that's I don't want that in their brain.
• 50:46
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Erica Neely: It is scary. Yeah. And then so it's . . .
• 50:51
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Crystal: It's especially those teen hormones, you know, like they're not thinking right for a few years.
• 50:56
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Erica Neely: So you as a parent, you know, all this is is going on. So I go back to that moment. I'm the one that drove my child to the front of the school and dropped them off. So, I'm making the choice to put them in that environment. So, that goes back to empowering yourself and having school choice and freedom. Liberty. That's what that is.
• 51:12
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Scott: Well, and it's picking up. I mean, the Nevada Independent just did that article earlier this week about, you know, that that a lot of the decline in public school stuff, they seem to be going to either to charter schools, which was the focus part of that argument, or homeschooling, uh, which has been another, uh, excuse me, another sort of argument here. And education's one of those where basically the federal government has very little control. They spend a lot of money, right? Now, we're disbanding the Department of Education, but so much of the stuff, the mental health stuff, particularly um that's at the state level, right? The violence in schools is all a state level issue.
• 51:52
  writing and math. So they are excelling in their values and in their character. Crystal: Erica Neely: Absolutely.
• 51:58
  Scott: Right. So, voting for Harris versus Trump doesn't doesn't impact this.
• 51:58
  Scott: Erica Neely: That's right.
• 52:03
  Crystal: Yeah. No, I'm glad you guys both brought that up because the difference between federal policy and local policy, there might as well be a grand canyon in between the two. People get all ben outta of shape, bent out of shape about the federal level. I'm like county is where you need to focus.
• 52:20
  Erica Neely: Absolutely.
• 52:20
  Erica Neely: Crystal: That's the only thing you really have control over.
• 52:27
  Erica Neely: wrapping up here a bit. How how are you finding it campaigning as a Hispanic woman?
• 52:27
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Um well, I'm having fun.
• 52:36
  Erica Neely: Scott: Okay. [laughter] politics. I look at it as loving my country, loving my community and my family. My husband is Irish white. Okay. So I'm Mexican, so I don't see it as seeing it as a Hispanic. But when I um the identity politics come into play like last last time around with Steve Yaeger, uh he's a white man from an Ivy League college, right? He's a lawyer. So when he would say I'm for women, I was like wait a minute, I'm a woman. And when he sent out flyers that he is for education, wait a minute, I have six kids, you have none. Uh then he would say, I'm for minorities. Uh excuse me, I don't need you speaking for me. I could speak as a minority. So um in that sense, I have a lot of fun. They want to play identity politics. There's a man, a white man, speaking for a minority woman with children and yet he's going to defend me but while he's attacking me, right? So, I'm I'm having fun with it.
• 53:39
  Erica Neely: Crystal: Good. That's awesome. I tell everybody--because I ran last year--and I'm like, just have fun with it. Don't take it so seriously. Just have fun with it. You'll learn a lot if nothing else. You learn so much.
• 53:50
  Erica Neely: Scott: Well, you want to give us your, you know, your social media stuff and then we'll we'll post it up here on the screen.
• 53:56
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: And so Erica Neely, I'm running for Assembly District 9. Please visit my website at NeelyforNevada. F-O-R. NeelyforNevada. Get involved. Donate today. Very important. And so yes, thank you so much.
• 54:16
  Erica Neely: here. And like I said, this has been a . . . this has been an issue, from a rural perspective, a lot of times we don't we don't have a chance to sit down with somebody and to talk in depth about these issues. So, we really appreciate you being out here today.
• 54:26
  Erica Neely: Erica Neely: Thank you so much. And if you have a question for Crystal and I, go ahead and get hold of us at info@775alive.com.
• 54:37
  Erica Neely: Uh until then, here with Erica Neely, I'm Scott Gavorsky.
• 54:38
  Erica Neely: Crystal: And I'm Crystal Newton.