Love survives Trump divide

In Latino family split between pro-Trump mom and liberal daughter, their bond — and hard talks — endure. ‘Both sides should be chill.’

- GUSTAVO ARELLANO COLUMNIST

BRITTNEY Valles-Gordon, left, and Gloria Valles choose family over politics.

The setting: a two-story home in Whittier prettied with holiday decorations, pet beds, American flags and a shelf of tchotchkes dedicated to John Wayne.

The face-off: 63-year-old Gloria Valles and her daughter, 33-year-old Brittney Valles-Gordon.

The debate: What else these days? Politics. For two hours on a recent morning, the two went at it like the philosophical equivalent of UFC fighters.

Trump. Abortion. The economy. Democrats. Whether ICE agents should wear masks. Trump.

Trump. Brittney, a Democrat who works in L.A.’s dining scene, lobbed barbs from the comfort of a couch with an elder shih tzu mix named Chuy by her side; Gloria stood her Republican ground froma recliner covered ina giant Dallas Cowboys blanket.

Soon they were going mano-a-mano over an issue roiling many Latinos: Trump's unleashing of ICE and Border Patrol in many oftheir communities.

“Grandma came here as an illegal immigrant,” Brittney reminded her mother, referring to Gloria’s mother.

“But she made sure to make herself legal.”

“ICE doesn’t care about that — they would've netted Grandma.”

They're one of many families across Southern California and the country split right now about what President Trump has wrought upon usin his second term. The divisions are especially pronounced among Latinos, a demographic that voted for him inrecord numbers last year — Gloria and three of her brothers included.

Trump had made historic gains among Latinos inthe last presidential election, only to drop those gains faster than Tommy “The Hit Man” Hearns did Pipino Cuevas.

Among the likely reasons, which include the shaky economy: His rancid, malevolent policy toward immigrants, especially those in the country without papers.