Editorial: Is Trump a 'bad hombre' for ignoring Hispanic Heritage Month?

The Fresno Bee Editorial Board, The Fresno Bee on Sep 19, 2025

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It appears that President Donald Trump has signaled a total disdain for the Latino community, the country’s largest minority group at 68 million, or 1 of every 5 residents.

This observation is not based totally on Trump’s remarks a decade ago that Mexico “does not send its best” and that immigrants from our southern border are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

Nor are we looking solely at his 2016 debate when he used the term “bad hombres” in explaining his plan to deport drug traffickers.

Consider two recent actions — or lack of — to gauge the president’s thinking of the vibrant Latino community.

Trump, who did get a Republican-record 48% of the Latino vote in 2024, has not issued a proclamation designating Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month. Every U.S. president since George H. Bush in 1989 has issued such a proclamation.

Exhibit B: Trump’s Education Department announced on Monday it will redirect $350 million in grants reserved for programs at colleges and universities with Latino enrollment of more than 25% and shift those dollars to historically Black colleges.

In 2020, Trump issued an executive order for Hispanic Heritage Month saying Latinos “contribute to our Nation beyond description. Hispanic Americans embody the best of our American values, including commitment to faith, family and country.”

He noted Latinos serve in the military and law enforcement, and added that Latinos make up half of Border Patrol agents.

“The Hispanic-American community has left an indelible mark on our government, culture and economy,” said Trump, who noted that Hispanic-serving institutions shared part of $1 billion in federal funding.

Trump’s 2020 executive order also established the President’s Advisory Commission on Hispanic Prosperity, “which is dedicated to advising my Administration on ways to improve access to educational and economic opportunities for the Hispanic-American community.”

The president said Latinos “will play an incredible role in our country’s great years to come, and my Administration proudly stands with them. Their steadfast commitment to America’s core values, their steadfast opposition to socialism, and their innumerable contributions to our prosperity enrich our Nation and add to our unmatched culture and way of life.”

This year, nada about Hispanic Heritage Month from the president. Not on Truth Social. Not on The White House X account.

It is wrong for Trump to ignore a tradition that dates back to 1968 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation recognizing Hispanic Heritage Week. President Ronald Reagan expanded the observance to one month in 1988.

The observation coincides with the Sept. 15 anniversaries of independence for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Mexico celebrates its independence on Sept. 16.

Trump stops a streak

The White House website touts Trump’s assignment of National Guard troops to Memphis — where police data show a 25-year low drop in crime — to crack down on criminals. There are other posts extending a ban on TikTok and praising conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, who was killed last Wednesday while appearing at a Utah college.

But, nary is there a word about Hispanic Heritage Month. Not even an updated post of the taco bowl he has touted as the best in the world.

That’s OK. Americans with roots in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Peru and other Latin American countries haven’t let the current White House occupant rain on their culture.

Trump has refused to provide funding in his 2026 budget proposal for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. He authorized the museum in 2020.

In his “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order released in March, Trump alleges the Smithsonian “has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”

It appears the president wants to erase the Latino identity in this country, whether through mass deportations, shoving their history into museum closets or refusing to acknowledge a monthlong celebration.

He is one bad hombre.

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