As their voting power strengthens, Latinos will become more influential in the outcome of future American elections, three prominent advocates for Latino rights said at a recent “Latinos and the Vote” forum at DePaul University.

Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), said Latinos need to make their voices heard on issues of importance to them so that political candidates cannot ignore them.

"More than at any other time in our nation’s history it is time to get the Latino vote out in record numbers. Latinos are being hit hard and we want a change,” said Rosales, who leads the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. “Latinos need to vote for candidates who are not afraid to talk about the issues that matter most to us, such as access to health care, quality education, affordable housing and an immigration system that is fair and just.”

José Artemio Arreola, political director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), said the Latino vote is growing in Illinois and will continue to make a difference in close races. Latinos comprise 6.9 percent of the eight million registered voters in Illinois, he said.

 “As more immigrants realize the stake they have in federal and state policies that affect their lives and families, the number of foreign-born citizens will surely continue to increase,” said Arreola, a key organizer of the historic immigration march first held in Chicago in 2006. “As immigrants naturalize and register to vote, they will increasingly become a force that candidates and elected officials of both parties must reckon with.”

Rodolfo Rosales, associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and author of “The Illusion of Inclusion: the Untold Story Political Story of San Antonio,” said the immigration reform movement provides an opportunity to address a whole range of human rights issues worldwide.

“The immigration issue, which is a global human rights problem, will have a direct impact on U.S. politics for years to come,” he said. “While the candidates have not spoken to the issue of immigration in this election, it is on the minds of most Latino voters, especially in the battleground states.”

The forum was sponsored by DePaul’s Office of Academic Affairs and concluded with a public discussion on issues facing Latinos in this election year and beyond.