I wonder how much of this claim is due to the fact that “Hispanic” is an incoherent category and is being defined in the broadest possible way to diminish the size of the “white” majority?
I have a colleague all of whose ancestors in the 1760’s, hailed from northern Europe, just as all of mine at that time did, but because some her more recent ancestors settled in Argentina from where she came to take a job in the U.S., she is considered “Hispanic”. On the other hand, an immigrant direct from Spain would be considered “white non-Hispanic” on some forms, but classified as “Hispanic” on the basis of surname on others.
If it’s to mean anything sensible as a racial category to separate from “white”, “Hispanic” would have to mean “having ancestors who were among the indigenous peoples of the parts of the New World colonized by Spain and Portugal”, but that’s not how it’s used.
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Why does the media define everything in racial terms?
The vast majority of "Hispanics" in the USA are mestizo, not European. That is European-AmerIndian admixture. An increasing percentage of immigrants from Mexico and Central America are almost pure AmerIndian, many don't even speak Spanish.
The term "Latino" seems more broadly descriptive.
54% of Hispanics self-describe themselves as white.