"I’m A Latina, And I’m Voting For Trump This Election": Children Of Immigrants Are Sharing Why They Voted
The topic of immigration has had a stronghold on the election cycle this year, specifically regarding the border. Of course, President-Elect Donald Trump's previous solution to build a wall failed miserably, so it's surprising that some are willing to still believe that he actually has a plan in motion to address the issues on their minds.
However, Trump's promises of mass deportation and his general attitude toward immigrants have been rooted in xenophobia and racism. Let's not forget that he and his running mate, J.D. Vance, tried to convince Americans that illegal Haitian immigrants were eating cats in Springfield, OH. Turns out that the Haitian immigrants in the community were legal nor were there any reports of cats being eaten.
There are several examples of the Republicans trying to create fear among Americans to secure their votes. However, their words have real impacts, especially for immigrants.
Still, there seems to be a divide surrounding the strict immigration policies that Trump has presented, especially among immigrants and the children of immigrants.
On one hand, some feel as though undocumented immigrants entering America should be given a pathway to citizenship. On the other, the Republicans' stance on immigration and border policies has resonated with first and second-generation immigrants who feel as though the only way to stay in America is through legal channels, regardless of the circumstances.
I recently asked the children of immigrants in the BuzzFeed Community to share the issues that are concerning them the most this election. Here's what they had to say.
1."I’m a Latina and I’m voting for Trump this election. My top issues of the election are the economy and the border crisis."
2."Genocide in Gaza."
–Anonymous, New York
3."I’m the daughter of immigrants, voting for Kamala Harris for all the reasons. I was raised Republican, but realized how much I disagreed with the GOP as a college student."
"My parents are still a little conservative as the older generation of people who generally side with the establishment. They voted for Trump before but thankfully saw the light soon after. I think a lot of immigrants are like my parents — they don’t like to rock the boat with change, protests, and reform because they come from countries with authoritarian governments. They don’t trust freedom of the press because they came from propagandist regimes. But then they gravitate towards racist conspiracy theories because they 1) grew up a little racist because many old cultures are xenophobic and 2) aren’t highly educated and can’t make sense of a complicated world without some simple explanation that a couple of people or groups are ruining it for everyone else. Then they find themselves voting with an authoritarian philosophy, even if it means they’re siding with a party that would happily deport them, even if they’re legally here.
4."Government in schools. Kids need to learn normal things like math and reading. And funnily enough, immigration."
"My parents came here legally and we get to live freely without retribution. Those who come here illegally are more than likely running drugs or trafficking young kids. We need to stop illegals from just walking right into the southern states and up north. They're taking away jobs from hard-working normal citizens and ruining the reputation of legal immigrants."
–Anonymous, Indiana
5."I'm a single-issue voter this year and that issue is Gaza. My parents are from Palestine, and seeing their faces every time they open social media and see how their home country has been devastated is heartbreaking."
"What this election has taught me is that liberals are absolutely hypocritical. 'I'm voting to save my kids!' 'Vote in a way that makes sense to my kids!' 'I just voted for my kid's future!' But when we say we're voting to save our kids, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings, the hate speech comes flying out their mouths so fast, it gives you whiplash. They want us to vote for their families while they say f*ck it to ours. I'm proud to have given Dr. Stein my vote, and I hope Kamala 'I'm speaking' Harris learns that genocide doesn't pay."
–Anonymous, Illinois
6."Trump’s racism and hate for immigrants is something that I can’t stand for."
"I’m not necessarily the daughter of immigrants per se, but my parents came to Florida from Puerto Rico once they found out that my mom was pregnant with me. They wanted their children to have full, complete American citizenship. I’m now old enough to vote in this election (I’m 20 and a college student), and I’m proud to say that I’m voting for Kamala Harris. The hurtful, awful, racist comments made about Puerto Rico and its people that were made at a recent Trump rally are DISGUSTING. That’s only the tip of the iceberg though; Trump’s racism and hate for immigrants is something that I can’t stand for. Kamala may not be entirely perfect (no politician is), but I believe in what she’s trying to do."
–Anonymous, Florida
7."Human rights."
"We are not free until we are all free. I am a white, cisgender, straight married woman, and I am also a first-generation American. My parents are from England and Germany. We have never faced the discrimination that my Black and Brown immigrant friends experienced. We have always been treated as full citizens of this country, but that is due to our whiteness. My parents taught us the unfairness of our system is always the hardest on people of color, and we have to change that. This election is about morality, full stop."
–Anonymous, South Carolina
8."What’s going on at the border is actively making it harder for people who want to get in the legal way to get in and fueling hate towards them because people are just feeling generally anti-immigrant."
"I’m the granddaughter of Greek immigrants and will be voting for Donald Trump this election. What’s going on at the border is actively making it harder for people who want to get in the legal way to get in and fueling hate towards them because people are just feeling generally anti-immigrant. Kamala Harris was appointed border czar and proceeded to let 6 million+ illegals immigrants into this country, 300,000 of which are lost children, and it’s baffling that people are trying to pretend that it isn’t her and Biden’s fault. She’s had three and a half years in office to fix the problem that she created by undoing all of the Trump immigration laws and she’s done nothing but deny that she did anything wrong and deny that the problem is there at all. And that is only one of many reasons I will vote for Trump."
–Anonymous, Florida
9."Illegal immigration."
"I understand that the intentions of those who are coming into this country aren't one-size-fits-all, but there is very much a right and a wrong way to do things. And doing it the wrong way undermines the rights of our family members who have put in the work to earn those rights."
–Anonymous, New Jersey
10.And finally, "Trump staffing every level of government with loyalists is terrifying to me."
"It’s not an exaggeration to say that’s the second-to-last stop on the train to fascism. Also, protecting abortion and the Dept. of Ed, which he’s promised to defund. Finally, I’m focused on lessening the influence of evangelical Christians over our politics. My mom grew up under Catholic theocracy, and I promise you don’t want to live like that."
–Anonymous, New Jersey
