Home / News / Press Releases

LULAC Denounces Racist Comments About Latinos

Nation’s Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Urges Congress to Censure Arizona Representative

Washington, DC - State and National Leaders of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued the following statement Thursday about remarks made by Rep. Debbie Lesko, (R-AZ) when she told the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week that Hispanics are “good workers” but then added, “We're compassionate people, but for goodness sakes, we have to take care of American citizens, or people that are here legally, first."

John David Arnold, PhD - LULAC Arizona State Director
“First of all, we deplore these kinds of comments being made by an elected official. These comments have no place in our state or anywhere. This person does not speak for the whole legislature. I can assure you there will be plenty of reaction to these comments by her colleagues that disagree with her. Our LULAC members are astute and will react to these comments and take appropriate action as is necessary especially those in that district."

Domingo Garcia - LULAC National President
“LULAC wants Speaker Pelosi to censure Representative Lesko for her racist remarks. COVID-19 doesn’t check for papers before infecting its victims and neither will we stop its spread leaving essential workers until the very end. In fact, they should come first because they are critical to keeping our country going. If anyone needs to be last, it should be the politicians who denied there was a pandemic, then refused to wear a mask and now want to play racial politics at the expense of hard working men and women risking their lives every day for us.”

Sindy Benavides - LULAC Chief Executive Officer
“Vaccinating people is about protecting the health of a community and should not be about anything else. We need to come together and work with deliberate urgency to inform and encourage every person we can to get the vaccine. This is vital for us to seize control of a deadly pandemic that has already claimed more than 500,000 lives in the United States and Puerto Rico. Nothing good can come from continuing divisive politics and theatrics which are regressive even in the name of righteousness.”

###

About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/