WASHINGTON — President Trump’s policy that has resulted in the separation of parents and children along the southern border may have accomplished something Latino activist groups haven’t before: Prompting a long-term voter registration drive uniting progressive and traditional Democratic groups.

On Thursday, a new coalition led by the nonprofit advocacy group Voto Latino will launch a three-year, multi-million dollar effort to register Hispanics, who’ve historically been among the least likely group of voters to cast a ballot, NBC News has learned.

Despite decades of effort by liberal-leaning organizations, Hispanic voters consistently turn out in numbers far lower than other demographic groups relative to their population. Every year, Democrats promise a surge in Latino turnout and spend millions on the cause, only to come up short. That was true even in 2016, after Trump launched his presidential campaign by calling many undocumented Mexicans drug dealers and rapists....

The coalition also hopes to convince donors to shift from the party’s traditional focus on swing states in the Midwest to states with the biggest growth in population, like Texas and Arizona. In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton dramatically improved on Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 margins in those states, a shift that was overshadowed by Trump’s strength in former midwest battlefields.