Some conservative Hispanics are wary of Donald Trump. | AP Photo Hispanic conservatives assail Trump "If Trump is the GOP nominee he will not have our support. We will not work to elect him.”

BOULDER, COLO. — Donald Trump is “excommunicated,” and if he is the Republican nominee, Democrats will win the White House.

At least that’s the message dozens of conservative Hispanics gave Wednesday after a meeting in Boulder, Colorado, to address concerns over the current rhetoric and policy proposals in their party. The meeting, which was commissioned independent of the party and candidates, took place Tuesday, the day before the Republican candidates met at the CNBC debate at the University of Colorado at Boulder.


“We’ll be very clear; Trump is done. If Trump is the GOP nominee, he will not have our support. We will not work to elect him,” Alfonso Aguilar, head of the American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership, which describes itself as a movement to back conservative Latino issues and candidates, told POLITICO. “If Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, the Republican Party will lose the White House in the next election. So Trump is out; we’ve excommunicated him. He’s done.”

And the group had a warning for anyone who follows in Trump’s footsteps: We’re watching you, and we’ll denounce you too.

“We’re angry. We’re angry at the tone that some candidates are using on immigration and to speak about the Latino community. We’re also concerned about the immigration proposals that some candidates are advancing,” Aguilar told POLITICO. (Aguilar served as the director of the U.S. Office of Citizenship under President George W. Bush.)

“To those candidates, we issue a warning to say don’t embrace those policies if you want to be successful in the general election. So we’re going to be monitoring them and seeing what they say and what they propose in the next few weeks and months.”

Rosario Marin, who served as U.S. treasurer under Bush, warned candidates that the Hispanic community will not forget the way they act during the primaries.

“Foolishly, some candidates don’t think they need the Hispanic vote in the primary. Heed our warning: Don’t expect us to come to your side during the general election,” Marin said. “You are not with us now, we will not be with you then. You don’t need our vote now, you won’t have it then. You insult us now, we will be deaf to you then. You take us for granted now, we will not recognize you then.”

“Maybe some candidates believe that we will forget. Let me be crystal clear. We won’t,” she said.

Marin declined to say Trump’s name because, she said, it would “dirty my mouth.”

The group will meet again in Las Vegas before the GOP debates in December. And if candidates haven’t stepped it up, it said, they could be denounced.

The Hispanic vote has been a key issue in the 2016 election, as the number of eligible Hispanic voters increases rapidly. Pew estimates the number of eligible Hispanic voters increases by 3 million to 3.5 million voters between every presidential election.

Hispanic groups have increased outreach to voters, using frustration over certain comments — such as Trump calling undocumented immigrants criminals and rapists and his plan to deport millions — as fuel to bring them to the polls.

Latino Victory Project, a nonpartisan organization that has increased voter outreach based off Trump’s remarks, recently applauded the group for condemning Trump but said he’s not the only candidate making offensive comments.

“We’re happy to see that some Latino conservatives are finally doing the bare minimum and making it clear they won’t support Donald Trump for President. However, this issue is bigger than Donald Trump and his insulting words,” Cristóbal J. Alex, president of Latino Victory Project, said in a statement. “Trump is not the only Republican presidential candidate who used inflammatory language and who supports the same kind of anti-immigrant, useless border security first policies, and trickle down economic policies that only help corporations while hurting our families.”

“Putting your field on notice is great, but if conservatives really want to be taken seriously by the Latino community, they have to go beyond doing the bare minimum to condemn inflammatory rhetoric and start holding candidates accountable even when it’s not politically expedient,” Alex said.