Why did Latinos vote for Trump?

Recurring question: why did Latinos vote en masse for a candidate who, during the campaign, did nothing but call them criminals who “poison the blood of the country”, “have bad genes” or, as the comedian said Tony Hinchcliffe at a rally held in Madison Square Gardenof New Yorkcome, among other things, from “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”? I was talking about Puerto RicoCommonwealth of USA. The energetic reply of the vice president Kamala HarrisDemocratic candidate, was not enough to stop the flood of Latino votes for her rival, donald trumpfinally winner by several lengths.

Because I love you, do I hit you? More or less. The joke, Republicans were quick to clarify, did not reflect the opinion of Trump or his people. The xenophobic discourse, printed during the campaign, was difficult to refute. The truth is that the Latino electorate ignored the matter. Or the insult. Trump came back from two presidential elections with that portion against him. The recurring question, then, has an answer: the citizens of that origin who voted for Trump, now Americans, did not feel threatened by his promise of mass deportation. On the contrary: they do not want more immigrants like them.

I lower it to the ground. During my years in Washington, D.C.I was offered to be a football (soccer) coach at my son’s school, Augustine. I accepted with pleasure. I shared the unpaid work with a Salvadoran father. We gave the kids instructions in English, but I noticed that my colleague’s son didn’t speak Spanish. I wondered and asked him why. He responded in English: “I am very proud to be American.” I did not understand and will not understand why he prevented his son from being bilingual, something simple when he went to class in one language and spoke another at home. He had stopped using his native language, too, indoors.

That pride, that of the acquired nationality and that of sending remittances to their relatives so that they could survive in El Salvadorit was not a merit, except that of having embraced the American dream. The sense of belonging may have led Latinos, traditionally Democrats, to turn to a former president who, if he complies with his campaign postulates, would order the deportation of millions of people. Will you apply the Foreign Enemies Lawenacted in wartime in 1798, only used in the War of 1812 and the world wars of the 20th century?

Venezuelans, burdened by Maduro’s dictatorial regime, “are drug traffickers, criminals, murderers and rapists,” Trump said

In USAAs in other countries, there are first-class and second-class citizens. The immigrant, if he does not have the papers in order, becomes a suspect beyond his nationality. In Trump’s lexicon, he adds to the list of criminals who rob, rape and kill without mercy or, like the Haitians of Springfield, Ohiothey eat their neighbors’ pets while the economy, another determining factor, plummets. At least, in popular perception. In short, there could be little distance from cats to cannibalism. Fake news? Venezuelans, burdened by the dictatorial regime of Nicolas Maduro“They are drug traffickers, criminals, murderers and rapists,” Trump said.

In 2017, during his administration, Trump wanted to eliminate the program DACAapproved five years earlier by Barack Obama. It granted residence and work permits to immigrants who had arrived in the country illegally as children. The Supreme Court paralyzed the process. The dreamers They have been in USA and some of them, even professionals, do not know the country of their parents or their language. The program had little impact among Latinos Keeping Families Togetherapproved by Joe Biden in June 2024 to grant residency to the spouses of North American citizens.

The 2022 humanitarian parole granted asylum in USA to migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti If they had financial support, they passed a background check and bought a plane ticket to a North American airport. Automatic citizenship? Forget it! (Forget it!) “From day one I will sign an executive order that the children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic citizenship,” Trump promised. Because, he explained, “this policy is a magnet for migrants who come from prisons and institutions for the mentally ill.” Textual words. Recurring response.

Note: this is an article republished from the media “El Interin” through a cooperation agreement between both parties for the dissemination of journalistic content. original link.