In case you missed it, Juan Proaño, the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), appeared on the Democrats’ Daily Blueprint yesterday to discuss how his organization is standing up for Latinos — whether by fighting to uphold birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court or by pushing for greater support and investment in Latino-owned businesses. 

WATCH

You can find highlights from the conversation below: 

On Donald Trump’s push to repeal birthright citizenship:

Juan Proaño: “I’m very proud to say that LULAC was the first organization to sue this administration. We literally sued him on January 20th. We knew that birthright citizenship was something that he was going to go after. It was part of what they had put in Project 2025, and we were ready to go. We filed a lawsuit that night and have continued to litigate it. We actually received the preliminary injunction in the [U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit]. It’s now going to the Supreme Court.”

On the need to support Latino and Latina entrepreneurs — who start businesses at higher rates than any other demographic group:

Juan Proaño: “Depending on which report you look at, it’s anywhere from $4.8 trillion to $6.1 trillion in economic impact that Latinos actually have in this country — the fifth largest in the world. I was a small business owner for over 20 years, and I know how difficult and challenging that can actually be. But when we start to talk about Latino businesses, very sadly, people think about large, scalable Latino businesses. 

“The fact of the matter is 99[%] of Latino businesses are not scalable. They will never get to more than four employees. They may never have more than half a million dollars, for example, in revenue. But what they do have is [that] they’re family owned businesses. This could be, you know, the lawn service company, for example. It can be the cleaning lady that may come to your home and provide these services as well. They are mom-and-pop, sole proprietors, if you will. And they really rely on social service programs, like health care,  for example, because they’re not large enough to be able to get it in a private market. They rely on, for example, Obamacare, to be able to get their healthcare as well. So we need to be able to continue to support them, and continue to provide them with financial support. Access to loans is really a really big differentiating factor for Latino small businesses and really giving them more opportunities in every state across the country.”

On the Trump administration’s broken promises to the Latino community:

Juan Proaño: “More Latino men voted for Trump than any other Republican president up until that point in time. I think what we’re seeing now is very much buyer’s remorse. A lot of folks didn’t necessarily believe when he talked about immigration enforcement and the detentions and deportations that he was planning. They thought it was just one of those other things that he talked a big game [about] but wasn’t necessarily going to deliver on. I was telling voters throughout, ‘if you believe he’s going to cut your taxes, then you should absolutely believe that he’s going to implement one of the most egregious deportation efforts that this country has ever seen,’ and that’s what we’re seeing. But it’s not just that, you know, he promised to lower inflation. Inflation hasn’t gone down. He promised to lower the unemployment rate. Unemployment hasn’t necessarily gone down. The cost of eggs, certainly where I shop, it’s $6, $7, $9 per dozen. It’s still very expensive. And it’s really put a lot of families, especially Latino families, in jeopardy. Concerned about their health care, concerned about the cost of food, and just putting food on the dinner table is really a challenge for our community.”