For the past 20 years, the Serranos of Lakewood, California, have kept a family pact based on equal parts patriotism and vengeance:
Become an American citizen. Register to vote. And go with the Democrats to stick it to the Republicans.
Rafael and Carmela Serrano came to Southern California in 1991 from Guadalajara, Mexico, with six of their eight children after their general store went under. They had wonderful memories of the Southland from visits to Disneyland, and figured life here would be peaceful and welcoming.
It wasn't.
California was about to embark on a decade of legislative xenophobia led by the GOP. First came Proposition 187, the landmark 1994 ballot initiative that sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants. Similar laws spread in cities across the state that decade and eventually metastasized into a national anti-immigrant movement that helped plop Donald J. Trump in the White House in the 2016 election.
"We all came to come ahead, not to take away anyone's bread," said Gabby Serrano, 46, as she stood in front of her parent's well-kept tract home. Three of her siblings — Francisco, Juan and Teresa — nodded in agreement. Signs for Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and Assemblyman Anthony Rendon decorated the lawn. Teresa wore an "I Voted" sticker, while Juan's son held mail-in ballots other family members had yet to turn in. "To see such anti-Mexican hate was just hurtful."
"Our eyes were quickly opened," added 42-year-old Francisco. He remembered walkouts at Artesia High School against 187 that he and his brother didn't participate in for fear that immigration agents might take them away.
"We couldn't vote back then, because we weren't citizens," responded Juan, a 44-year-old supervisor for Hawaiian Garden's community services department. "But I remember being a teen, and promising that as soon as I could, I'd register as a Democrat."
He was the first Serrano to become an American citizen, in 2000. Other siblings followed. And then they waited for their parents to do the same.
And kept waiting.
Rafael, 73, and 70-year-old Carmela didn't seem to be in a hurry. Life in el Norte had been just fine as permanent residents. They thought taking the citizenship test in English would be too hard.
Then came Trump.
In March, the married couple of 53 years took their citizenship oath and immediately registered to vote. Two weeks ago, they dropped off their ballots at a voting drop box in Hawaiian Gardens before embarking on a long-planned vacation to Guadalajara. Juan filmed the occasion, then put it up on the Serranos' TikTok channel with "This is America" by Childish Gambino as a soundtrack.
They voted for Joe Biden, of course.
And they're not the only first-time Latino voters expected to do the same.
Juan Serrano said that he's spoken to scores of Hawaiian Gardens residents who registered to vote specifically to get Trump out of office. He compared the president's inadvertent inspiration for these first-timers to his own experience with Pete Wilson, the California governor who championed Proposition 187 and arguably led an entire generation of Latinos in the state to turn blue.
"Pete Wilson was my idol. He was my hero," said Juan sarcastically, but with gratitude. "Thanks to him, we were going to vote. We grew up with that injustice."
"It's like the J-Lo film," Gabby added. "Enough is enough."
