Labor activist Dolores Huerta says Trump "does not know history" with past comments on Mexican people [View all]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: June 30, 2026 / 11:24 PM EDT / CBS News


Longtime labor activist Dolores Huerta says President Trump's disparaging remarks about Mexicans show he "does not know history," and called on Latinos in California, Texas and other states to push for change in the November elections. "I just want to say that this is our moment," the 96-year-old told CBS News.

She recalled the beginning of Mr. Trump's first presidential campaign: "You know, the first thing when [the president] came down that escalator, he attacked Mexicans. … He does not know history. He does not know that Texas was once part of Mexico."

Mr. Trump said in his 2015 campaign launch speech that Mexico was "not sending their best" to the United States, alleging: "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Huerta has been active in politics and civil rights activism since the 1960s, when she and Cesar Chavez co-founded the group that later became the United Farm Workers. She is known for popularizing the Spanish-language slogan "si, se puede," which has been widely adopted by political and labor movements over the decades, including in 2008, when Barack Obama's campaign used its English translation: "Yes, we can."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/labor-activist-dolores-huerta-trump-does-not-know-history/