Dominican-Americans Seek a Political Say

NEW YORK — Inside the sprawling South Beach restaurant in Washington Heights, Dominican immigrants are crammed in every cranny, watching telenovelas on big screens and wearing expressions of patience wearing thin. They’re waiting to register to vote with the Dominican Republic Central Board of Elections, which has set up shop to enroll as many expatriates as it can before the Dominican Republic’s next presidential election, in May.

As they wait, another group is competing for their attention: A band of canvassers is working the crowd, urging them to register right here in the U.S., so they can vote in the 2016 elections. The canvassers cajole; they entreat. “Tu voto es poder!” they say. “Your vote is power.”

“Our goal is to educate, register and mobilize the Dominican-American community to vote,” said Eddie Cuesta, New York City director of Dominicanos USA (DUSA), a nonpartisan voter registration group. “Dominicans are like the sleeping giant that all of a sudden people are recognizing.”

Immigrants face a number of hurdles — especially if they are black — in moving to the U.S. and integrating society. As Stateline has reported this year in a four-part series, black immigrants who come from Africa find themselves overeducated and underemployed. And refugees can be met with dwindling federal and state support for their resettlement.

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