From Reuters...

Bob Cortes, a Republican legislator in Florida, fears he is losing the
Hispanic vote that helped get him elected. The culprits: Republican
presidential candidates such as Donald Trump who are railing against
immigration.

The upcoming visit by the most socially progressive pope in generations
threatens to alienate them even more, driving a further wedge between
Cortes' party and the Hispanic voters it needs to win back in order to
retake the White House.

More than half of U.S. Latinos are Catholic, and they in turn represent
40 percent of the 51 million Catholics in America, making them a vital
constituency for Pope Francis to address on his first U.S. trip that
starts next week.

He is expected to address immigration, the closest issue to Hispanics'
hearts. Francis has said that migrants and refugees should not be
treated as "pawns on the chessboard of humanity."

Meanwhile, front-running Republican candidate Donald Trump has painted
Mexican illegal immigrants as violent criminals, promised to build a
border wall and slammed Spanish speakers. Several other leading
candidates, such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker have shifted to a more anti-immigrant stance as they jostle
in a crowded primary race.

“I hope the pope, being from a Latin American country, will kind of set
the record straight that everyone here who speaks Spanish is not here
illegally,” said Cortes, a Florida House representative who was raised
in Puerto Rico.

To Cortes and other Latino Republicans, the more Trump talks, the more a
political opportunity slips through their party’s fingers. Every month
thousands of people fleeing Puerto Rico’s economic crisis settle in
central Florida, each one a potential voter in next year’s presidential
election.

Polls show that Francis, the first Latin American pope, is
overwhelmingly popular among U.S. Hispanics regardless of their
political persuasion, suggesting that politicians take a risk in having
a message that strays too far from his.

Republicans here argue the Catholic Church remains a fundamentally
conservative institution, lining up well with them on traditional issues
like abortion and same-sex marriage.

But Francis' calls for action to tackle climate change, his stark
criticisms of capitalism and inequality, and his somewhat more liberal
stance on social issues risk throwing him into even sharper relief with
leading Republicans in Hispanics' minds.

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/nfg3t4n

It will be (D)elightful if after the 2016 elections it is determined the
GOPers lost the White House and perhaps a house in Congress because of
nastiness towards Latinos and, of course, the Republican war against
women, students, the poor and middle class, et cetera. GOP
hate-mongering might win the U.S. House but...