A civil rights icon made a stop in Roseville Sunday to encourage the Latino community to have their voices heard in the upcoming November election.
Dolores Huerta is most commonly known for being an American labor leader and co-founding the United Farm Workers labor union alongside Cesar Chavez in the 1960s.
The 88-year-old told ABC10 she believes the Latino vote can make a big difference in the upcoming election.
"There are enough of us Latinos in every community, especially here in California and the Southwest, but even in places like Georgia, there are 200,000 Latinos,” Huerta said. “And in places like Virginia, which is only eight percent of the vote, but the Latino vote has been the decider in the last two gubernatorial elections, so there are enough of us Latinos that we can decide the election."
Despite Hispanic voters generally having a low voter turnout, Huerta believes the anger a lot of Latinos feel toward what many consider "anti-immigrant" policies from the Trump administration will translate into more people at the polls.
“They're frustrated, but the way they can handle that is by voting,” Huerta added. “This is one way that you can get back at the people that are attacking you, and it's about the democratic process also. We have to remember that the people that we elect are the ones that make the policies that affect our communities, so we have to make that connection.”
Huerta also encourages those who aren’t eligible to vote to take action.
“You pay taxes,” she said, when referring to undocumented immigrants. “You can go out there and help knock on doors, and you can man the phones and pass out the literature to make sure we get good people elected. iSí, se puede!” Dolores said, which means "yes, we can."