2025: A Difficult Year for Latino Families in Alaska
2025 was a particularly challenging year for the Latino community in the United States, and in Alaska that impact is felt even more strongly. President Trump’s promises to lower the cost of living have not been fulfilled. On the contrary, everything is more expensive: rent, housing prices, electricity, gasoline, food that arrives by boat or plane, and health insurance. Meanwhile, the wages of many workers, especially in construction, tourism, fishing, services, and self-employment, remain virtually stagnant.
In a state like Alaska, where the cost of living is already one of the highest in the country, these hikes directly hit Latino families who work hard to get ahead. Many rely on more than one job, short work seasons, or unstable incomes. Still, the administration in Washington, D.C., has decided to weaken basic protections for consumers, leaving the most vulnerable families even more exposed. For more than a year, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPB), created after the 2008 financial crisis, has failed to fulfill its mission. This agency was an important support for working families: it monitored credit reports for errors, regulated mortgages and auto loans, and protected people from discrimination and illegal charges. Today, that “watchdog” of the consumer is no longer fulfilling its function. Meanwhile, big economic interests and millionaires with access to the White House continue to benefit. Regulations that offered greater protection to consumers have been eliminated. For example, airlines are now no longer required to compensate passengers for cancellations or schedule changes. For families in Alaska, where air travel is not a luxury, but a necessity, this represents an additional blow to their pocketbook. Added to this is the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, disruptions in nutrition assistance programs like SNAP, and significant increases in health insurance premiums for those who rely on the health care marketplace. What options do working families, small businesses, and the self-employed have when they must choose between paying for health insurance and putting food on the table? For many Latino families in Alaska, this situation is worsening their financial stability and health. Already one in three Hispanics in the country has medical or dental debt, and these numbers will only increase if access to health insurance becomes unattainable. Instead of responding to this crisis, what we are seeing is the proliferation of risky financial products that promise “immediate help” to cover daily expenses. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) companies offer loans without a credit check, trapping many people, especially young people, Latinos and African Americans, in hard-to-break debt cycles. In the context of less regulation and less oversight, these practices are expanding rapidly. The Latino vote played a major role in the election of President Trump. Today is a time to reflect on how these decisions have directly affected our pocketbooks, our families, and our future in Alaska. Our power does not end in an election. We must use our voice and our community organizing to demand that we be included in the economic decisions that impact our lives. Latino families in Alaska are an essential part of the state: they build, fish, cook, clean, care for, and sustain the local economy. They deserve a system that protects them, not one that leaves them behind. Community organizing and civic engagement remain our strongest tools for demanding real, not empty, promises. Lorelei Salas is an expert attorney in consumer and worker matters, a member of the Economic Speakers Bureau and a former federal official, where she served as head of Supervision of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. |