That, and the fact that Latinos are not a solid monolith — Latinos have varied heritages, including Cuban, Puerto Rican, etc., who might well resent those of Mexican, etc. heritages.
“Guns & Butter” is a phrase to indicate how the country’s money is spent. A classic example is LBJ tried to have BOTH guns and butter because he tried to both fund the Vietnam War AND his Great Society social programs. However, the economy couldn’t stand that for too long — one of the two would have to be cut. See this site for more information: www.blackrock.Com/us/individual/insights/guns-and-butter
I totally understand your point about it not being officially a “war”; however, it qualifies for the dictionary definition and that’s enough for me.
One can always hope. It was better for a time.