Frankie Miranda, the president of the Hispanic Federation, speaks at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on March 25, 2025, with representatives from 130 nonprofits that advocate for Latino communities. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — In a Tuesday press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, members of the Hispanic Federation detailed how the first three months of the Trump administration’s policies have harmed the Latino community rather than addressing economic concerns.

Frankie Miranda, the president of the federation, a nonprofit that focuses on civic engagement in the Latino community, said the president’s immigration crackdown has instilled fear and failed to tackle economic issues that influenced Latino voters in the 2024 presidential election, such as inflation and housing costs.

He said the revocation of legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants — many of them with work permits — will harm not only the Latino community but the economy overall.

“We want to ensure that our elected officials understand that this is going to have a negative impact on industries, on the economy,” he said. “This is going to have an impact on everyday Americans when you remove workers and people contributing and paying taxes to the economy.”

Grants yanked

Miranda, along with representatives from 130 nonprofits, will spend Wednesday meeting with lawmakers to talk to them about the economic contributions of Latinos and how President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations harm the community.

Miranda said the groups will also stress to lawmakers how the cancellations of federal grants, which were already approved by Congress, have led to staff layoffs and undercut services for the Latino community, from job training to legal aid.

Federation members were joined by Democratic Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Chuy Garcia of Illinois for Tuesday’s press conference.

“We saw that this election, the economy was the number one concern of voters across this entire country,” Frost said.

Some of the groups at the press conference included the Carolina Migrant Network of North Carolina and the Orlando Center for Justice, of Florida.

Stefanía Arteaga, who co-founded the Carolina Migrant Network, said the nonprofit is the only organization in North Carolina that provides free legal services for immigrants who are in immigration detention centers.

She said many of those people who have called her organization had their legal statuses revoked.

“This is part of a larger systematic failure and strategy by this administration to put people in deportation proceedings and use them as scapegoats,” Arteaga said.

Frost decried the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the revocation of the legal status of more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

He said those immigrants, along with more than 350,000 Venezuelans who have lost Temporary Protected Status, “now will face deportation,” by April 2.

“These are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends and our loved ones,” Frost said.

Garcia also slammed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. High-profile raids have taken place in his district in Chicago. 

“Raids are terrorizing our communities, and this is a show of the abuse of state power,” Garcia said.

Federation contracts in limbo

In an interview with States Newsroom, Miranda said the Hispanic Federation has about $105 million in federal contracts that were approved by Congress but are now pending or on hold under the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has cancelled many federal contracts, zeroing in on those that address diversity, equity and inclusion. The White House has also canceled contracts with nonprofits that provide services for refugees and immigrants, from resettlement to legal services for unaccompanied minors.

Miranda said some of the contracts from the Hispanic Federation that are now frozen would award $1 million for legal services, $58 million for solar panel projects in Puerto Rico and $16 million to help people obtain digital skills for the workforce.

He said he believes these programs were targeted because they either aim to provide equity or promote environmental justice.

“We want to ensure that elected officials understand that in these efforts of efficiency, what you are creating is more chaos, disruption of essential services and (losing) the opportunity for the country to continue moving forward in the right direction and avoid the effects of falling into a recession,” Miranda said.

Karina Ayala-Bermejo, president of the Instituto Del Progreso Latino in Chicago, said for decades the nonprofit has provided free legal services for lawful permanent residents seeking to become naturalized citizens.

She said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cut her nonprofit’s federal contract worth $450,000.

“It is having us reconsider a fee-for-service model, that we know is going to create a substantial financial barrier on families who merely seek to be able to fully participate in the U.S. democracy,” Ayala-Bermejo said.