Vice President Kamala Harris is apparently looking to improve her engagement with the Latino community in the United States after criticisms over her political performance. 

As we reported earlier this month, two recent survey reports to measure the political preference of Latinos in the country showed a trend towards greater political adherence by the Latino community to the Republican Party.

The polls organized by Equis Research and Way to Win, two Democratic-biased platforms, pointed out that the economic issue in the lives of Latinos, especially in the context of a pandemic, is more important than immigration.

However, the migration issue also faces some crises in the Biden administration, demonstrating an inability of Democrats to advance immigration reform. The great frustration in both economic and migratory issues contributed to the growing criticism of the current government.

For Kamala Harris in particular, some political faux pas have contributed to many Latinos not feeling represented by her. In June 2021, Harris traveled to Mexico and Guatemala, at Biden's request, to address the causes of the border crisis with leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, that is, the Northern Triangle of Central America, the region from which more than 1.8 million immigrants and refugees fled in 2021. What caused great embarrassment was her statement at that moment: “I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come!”

“H?rris met with L?tino ?nd immigr?tion groups five times over the course of the summer, including on the ?nnivers?ry of the El P?so h?te crime shooting with Vice President Joe Biden ?nd L?tino civil rights le?ders. She went on to spe?k ?bout voting rights ?t ? Voto L?tino conference in October ?nd held Hisp?nic Herit?ge Month events with L?tino sm?ll business le?ders in the f?ll”, according a publication.

Harris’ and Democrats’ concern to strengthen their ties with the Latino community is a strategic issue in case Joe Biden decides not to run for re-election in 2024. In addition to contributing to Latino membership in this year's midterm elections, his image could be improved until the next presidential elections.

However, the strategy encountered some other obstacles that endanger Latino trust in Kamala Harris. As we reported earlier, Jamal Simmons, recently vested as her director of communications, had to apologize for offensive tweets he made more than 10 years ago about "undocumented people”.

The confidence of Latinos in the vice president is also at stake due to the weak representation of Latinos in her government. According to the publication, “the four L?tino U.S. sen?tors met in November to discuss the issue. Sen?tors Bob Menendez, Ben R?y Luj?n, C?therine Cortez-M?sto, ?nd Alex P?dill? wrote ? priv?te letter to the White House, requesting better represent?tion in the White House hiring process. According to Politico, despite m?king up 18.5% of the popul?tion, L?tinos m?ke up only 10% of White House st?ff, comp?red to 17% for Bl?cks ?nd 13.4% for AAPIs”.

According to Axios website, after a year in office, Harris is looking for a Democratic agent to fill the new communications role on his team, a channel specifically aimed at the Latino community in the country.

A former adviser to the vice president commented that “Her st?ff needs to m?ke ? more aggressive effort to ensure she’s t?lking ?bout wh?t she’s done” [in its entire trajectory], considering that “L?tinos ?re w?tching”, according to the publication.