Opinion: Yes, you are betraying your immigrant family if you vote for Trump

“An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.”

― John Steinbeck

When I told a former teacher that one of my classmates had died from drug misuse, she responded by saying she wasn’t surprised. That taught me that some of us continue to accept the way things are. 

Then I heard from family members that someone in the family was a rapist and that it had been a long-term secret in the family- which again, taught me that we just need to accept the way things are. 

Yet, before all of that, I learned that things can always change, and that if something is wrong, do something about it, so at a very young age I decided to do that.

So whether it was in school or much after, I’ve tried to navigate outside of the status quo.  When a teenage friend of mine was killed in front of me or an uncle of mine was deported, I knew things didn’t need to be this way and that I had to find my purpose in fixing what I could. Journalism was the best way to understand how to talk to multiple people at once, to understand both the nuances of each issue, the biases of each side, and the powers that dictate what truth even is. This is all to say, I’ve never solely focused on what one side has said, but I have always tried to keep my ear on the floor regarding what is actually happening to the people most vulnerable in our community. 

I’ve taken the time over the last few elections to talk to a lot of Trump supporters, especially Latino Trump supporters and I gather the serious understanding that some of them have never taken all of his positions seriously. The reach of policy, the impact of what the actual government does, seems out of reach to others yet to some, it is pure horror.

As a reporter though, I’ve also been taught not to take a side and to not speak on a dividing topic. But as an immigrant, who I am is already a position. 

For many of the people I’ve interviewed, met and know personally, supporting Trump is about standing up for something, proving a point, or pure entertainment. The data keeps showing Latino Trump support is about misinformation, nostalgia on Latin American communist regimes or pure American fear. 

When I talk about the impact of “the reach of policy” I am not talking about political memes, Instagram reels you send while you’re on the toilet, or even screaming matches during a family dinner, I am talking about getting called in at LAX before you get through TSA and being interrogated for hours because of a new immigration policy or getting denied a home loan only for having a TIN.

The current electorate like the rest of the country, even including myself, forget how harmful immigration policy has been for years and the reality that from the Obama administration to Trump’s and even through Biden’s there has been little done to fix the immigration system.

For the sake of my argument here, I want to focus on the reality of what a Trump vote from a Latino who has immigrant family members or who is from a direct line of immigrants can really mean. 

If you are one of those voters for Trump, that vote is a direct betrayal. 

Voting for Kamala Harris doesn’t automatically make you a champion of immigrant rights or a communist, it ensures room for accountability, a vote for an administration that is not saying it will enact massive deportations on day one. It is important to believe Donald Trump when he says something and not solely focus on his other stances. 

Trump has vowed to enact mass deportations on day one and even end birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.

Though this would come with legal battles, it is important to note that some Latinos voting for Trump wouldn’t even be able to vote if it wasn’t for a law Trump wants to eliminate. 

Latino Trump supporters believe the massive deportations won't be that big or won’t affect them directly. During the Great Depression, over one million people were deported with over 60% of those affected being US Citizens (1929–1936).

After 9/11, the Bush Administration pushed for the Secure Communities program that followed up on the ‘90s policies of ICE agents working with law enforcement to enact raids at work, schools and even residential homes.

These raids separated families before the viral 2018 stories under Trump and yes it was under Democratic administrations like the Obama administration that deported over 3 million people. 

I am not endorsing Kamala Harris but I am endorsing a condemnation of Latino Trump supporters who refuse to acknowledge that the candidate they support is capable of not only keeping his promises to deport millions of immigrants and political rivals but is capable of so much more. 

Elections have slowly become more and more like sporting events. Scour through any Latinos for Trump or Harris pages and you’ll find mocking, belittling and pure antagonism on both sides. I’ve talked to very conservative Cuban refugees who don’t believe in mass deportations, and I’ve talked to young Latinos who have lost their parents to cartel violence on both sides of the border. 

The issues affecting our community are a lot more complicated than a wall and thousands of buses corralling us like cattle in handcuffs. If these issues are complicated, I believe in complex solutions but we truly can only find those together.