Convince Hispanics you have a better policy on immigration than your opponent and you will have their vote.

Political strategists across the country, and even publications like Time magazine, have wholly bought into this concept as predictions are being made over the votes of one of the largest growing political demographics in the United States.

Yet there is a fundamental disconnect between the realities facing many Latinos in this country and the political portrait being portrayed for them.

It begins with immigration. The Pew Hispanic Research Center (PHRC) released a report detailing results they received in a national poll of Hispanics concerning what they consider the most important issues in the upcoming election.

In the survey, 33 percent of Hispanics polled said immigration was an extremely important issue to them.

That is compared to nearly half of all respondents who said jobs, education and health care were extremely important issues. Taxes and the federal budget deficit were also ranked higher than immigration.

These numbers don’t reflect a disconnect between Hispanics and what is supposedly the most important issue facing them; it reflects the reality of the daily situation faced by Hispanics across the country.

A separate report from the Pew Research Center (PRC) that outlined the impact of the downturn in the economy on Americans showed that Hispanics had lost roughly two-thirds of their accumulated wealth in the past few years.

Yet even in such harsh times the most important issue to Hispanics is surely immigration right? It only makes sense that Hispanics would have the desire to open the door for family and friends to come here and have the same opportunity to live the “American Dream.”

Among those Hispanics who have lived in the United States for more than six years nearly 80 percent of them polled by the PHRC said that if given the choice today they still would have come to the United States.

Among those who have lived in the United States for five years or less however that number drops to 58 percent while 33 percent said they would have remained in their home country.

Recent Hispanic immigrants are discovering that in reality the “American Dream” is falling further away from their reach. The very reasons they had to come to this country are being undermined.

The entirety of the Hispanic experience is being seen in the number of Hispanics registering at the polls.

In going over U.S. Census statistics the non-profit William C. Velazquez Institute pointed out in a recent press release that voter registration among Hispanics has dropped for the first time since the 1970s.

The largest growing political demographic in the United States is registering at lower numbers in the polls and with it the power to influence and shape the future of Hispanic life in this country through the political process is fading.

There is too much at stake for Hispanics across the country to allow political apathy to set in. It is understandable to feel a detachment from the process and not believe that any influence can be made in such harsh times.

Yet politicians will not properly take into account the Hispanic voice in our political process so long as they believe they need only discuss immigration with Hispanics.

On both sides of my family lie roots of Hispanic immigration into this country, from México and Colombia respectively, and the life I have been blessed to live was not just won by those acts of immigration.

It has been won by generations of progress fostered by the ever rising tide of Hispanic voices that have demanded more than just changes to immigration policies.

These are the voices that rose up across the state from East Los Angeles to Oakland against punishment in schools for simply speaking Spanish. They demanded reforms to the way fruit pickers were being treated and spoke in solidarity with other minorities during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Voices have consistently pushed for changes inside the political process to give the children of Hispanic immigrants a better future.

The echoes of those previous generations must now be heard by Hispanic voices that demand more from politicians than just immigration policies.

Hispanic voices demanding policies that create more jobs, provide better education and affordable health care for Hispanics and all Americans.

That means an influx of registration drives to engage Hispanic voters and accountability from ourselves as individuals to make our votes based on more than just one issue because immigration only matters if it leads to a better life for those who come here.

I still have family in Colombia that may choose to live here someday and it is the voices of Hispanics across this country that will determine what opportunities they and others like them will have.

It is your voice which will make that difference.