I think its safe to say that no one saw this coming. 538 amongst other polling websites predicted that Trump had less than a 1/4 of a chance of winning the election & then it happened. They were all wrong. While America’s staggering reaction showed just how surprising the election results were to a huge percentage of the population, more emotions have arose since Trump’s victory. We are now seeing more feelings of nervousness and despair amongst immigrants & their loved ones, stronger than they ever were before.

As light is being shed on the worry that immigrants are now facing, we are lead to the question.. What can we expect? What version of Donald Trump will be get? Better yet, what version of Trump’s immigration reform will we get?! Will we get the fear mongering Trump who promised the country a concrete wall to keep immigrants out? Or will we get the man who got softer on immigration reform as his campaigning came to a close and his need for votes grew? These are all real questions that teachers have been asked by Latino students of middle and high schools in Denver within the past 24 hours.

Unfortunately, even amidst the times that Trump attempted to dissociate himself from his early campaign rhetoric, his love for hyperboles have always overcome his ability to stay quiet in order to gain a bigger portion of the Latino vote. As Trump’s promise to remove ALL undocumented immigrants IMMEDIATELY has silently wavered, some new and less drastic (still drastic, though) promises emerged toward the end of Trumps’ campaign. First, Trump vows to remove ALL illegal immigrants with any criminal background, including people with violations as small as speeding tickets. NEXT, Trump assured his Trumpians that he will suspend all immigration from areas of the world that are terror-prone, Syria in particular. Next, Trump will increase the depth of all immigration inspections. But here is the kicker… Trumps says that all of these things will be completed within the first 24 hours that he is in office. And lastly, Trump promises, though it won’t be immediate, that the wall will be built.

So there ya have it. These are the changes that our beloved, new president have in store for our country. While people are terrified, these promises give warrant to their terror. Lets hope that his promises are as fake as his spray tan, for the hard working immigrants that developed and continue to develop this country.. #TrumpTrain

Recently, we have seen that Trump decided to soften his immigration reform stance in attempt to win a bigger portion of the minority votes. Even more recently, we have seen him make another move that may counteract his progress. Over the past few weeks, Trump has issued claims that the entire election process is not only “rigged” but also offered reason to his poll numbers being lower than HRC through using his favorite scapegoat: illegal immigrants. Trump is certainly not the first politician to claim that nefarious forces are working against him in favor of the opposing party. He IS, however, the first to accuse the government, the Obama Administration in particular, of purposely allowing illegal immigrants to flood across the borders to vote in the 2016 election with intentions of swaying the election polls in the Democratic party’s favor.

While many American citizens are aware that our current immigration policies restrict anyone who enters the country illegally from voting, statistics show that around 60 percent of Republicans believe that illegal immigrants do vote despite current policies. While Trump’s unsubstantiated claims may just seem like another instance of his cavalier rhetoric that has provided him with both good and bad attention, this claim could reap far greater damage in Trump’s polling than I believe he realizes.

While illegal immigrants and their already legal counterparts have developed a fearful mentality in result of the deportation and harsh immigration reform claims that Trump made earlier in his campaign, instead of cowering down and accepting their possible dark fate, we have seen a spark of inspiration and  motivation arise amongst the undocumented population throughout this campaign season. This historical movement entails immigrants, while not able to vote themselves due to their citizenship status, contributing to raising voting awareness in minority communities, assisting legal minorities in getting registered AND encouraging citizens to vote. In addition, illegal immigrants have participated in and formed groups such as The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) which aim to educate and help register high density immigrant neighborhoods that don’t typically vote in large numbers, in attempt to get more people engaged in their fight against Trump.

So while Trump goes back and forth, at one moment trying to attract immigrants and at another offending them again, I do believe that his fate amongst majority of the minority communities has already been decided. Coalitions have been formed to keep families of immigrants together and to ultimately keep Trump out of office. With preferences aside and despite Trump’s continued efforts, I don’t believe the efforts of minorities and immigrants will go unwarranted. I do believe that Trump’s chances of winning this election have gone down tremendously & will continue to decline.

 

There were various things that I found interesting when looking into Gary Johnson & his immigration rhetoric. The first being the way that Johnson attempted to frame himself in order to appear more relatable to immigrants and minorities. He elaborated on living a huge portion of his life in New Mexico, a boarder state, which he claimed made him more qualified to understand immigrants & the mutual dependence that America has on immigrants and visa versa. Johnson also did a great job on playing on the emotions of immigrants and people who perceive immigration to be either harmless or helpful to The U.S. by reiterating that immigrants, “take the jobs that Americans don’t want” and also, “create jobs by being here” on numerous occasions. However, out of all of his immigration rhetoric, Johnson’s take on immigration reform was one of the most interesting things I came across. His attempt to dissociate himself from the rest of politicians when speaking about immigration was especially unique when he stated, “If we are going to deport people because they are costing America jobs how about we start with the politicians causing the problem?!” in a major campaign video on his website. These tactics are ‘okay’, these tactics are solid, these tactics appeal primarily to minority votes- but they can get Johnson SOMEWHERE, right?!?!

Well… Right, kinda. These particular tactics were not ineffective; in fact, Johnson pulled the same number of votes from Latinos (16%) that Donald Trump did. Which leads me to the question: WHY didn’t the votes from Latinos for Johnson put Trump’s 6 feet under? Well, unfortunately for Johnson, he has really “gaffed” up numerous times throughout his campaign and is appearing to be less and less qualified AND educated, two major presidential characteristics.

After considering his “Aleppo” gaffe, his inability to name a foreign leader when asked to, or the time that he willingly admitted that his lack of knowledge on foreign leaders made him a better candidate than Clinton, I began to wonder… Which gaffe, which off-the-wall statement, at what moment did Gary Johnson lose a huge chunk of the minority vote? Then, I had an ah-ha! moment. Johnson, a man who viciously objects to using the term ‘illegal immigrant,’ was asked in an interview why he was so strongly opposed to the term. His response, “It just is. Just so that you know. Just so that you know and you don’t have to use that term. They came into this country because they couldn’t get in legally and the jobs existed and you or I would have done the same thing,” was effortless & was accounted for as a “Gary Johnson moment”. While many Johnson supporters are proud that he even had a response after lack there of on a few occasions, his response was in no way beneficial to immigrants, it did not give a convincing argument as to why the term “illegal immigrant” was offensive or should be avoided and it did NOT exemplify a sophisticated and well-informed presidential response. While Johnson has executed some decent immigration rhetoric and has opted for a palatable alternative for immigration reform in contrast to the other presidential candidates, his gaffes and blank moments have convinced voters that he is literally h i g h. While everyone enjoys a good stoner, not many are willing to have vote one as our president. For these reasons, Johnson is far, FAR behind both DT and HRC, leaving him with no chance in winning this election. As the election day approaches, Johnson’s poll numbers have depleted and I believe that his polls will continue to do so as more people are exposed to his “Johnsonisms” through the media. 

While Donald Trump has done everything in his power to make sure that the nation is aware of the things that Hilary Clinton has done wrong, in addition to the media’s contribution to the matter, it is no surprise that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have landed themselves amongst the lowest approval ratings in history.

However, as Trump makes his shift on immigration reform and pursues a softer approach to his former harsh immigration policies, one can only begin to wonder if Hillary Clinton’s quiet rhetoric on immigration was a tactful strategy to make herself heard?

Inclusivity, diversity, acceptance, pathway to citizenship, keep families together: these are the terms that we have consistently heard throughout Clinton’s campaign when she spoke about immigration. These terms are not randomly selected, they have been carefully and intentionally chosen to act as a motive appeal. While Trump initially tailored his rhetoric towards the conservative, white men of the country, HRC has articulated her rhetoric to be especially compelling to a particular audience, too. According to a recent analysis of changes in the nations eligible voting population, nearly 31 percent of eligible voters will be Hispanic, black, Asian, or another racial or ethnic minority. This will be recorded as the most racially and ethnically diverse U.S. Electorate in history & fortunately for HRC, these “minorities” that are now representing a majority have heard her loud and clear.

So, what does that say about Clinton and her immigration rhetoric? It says that amidst all of Trumps insensitive statements about Mexican immigrants being rapists and murders or select religion bans across the country, Clinton appeared to be the perfect antithesis for the minorities within The U.S. It says that, now, as Trump attempts to dissociate himself from his early campaign rhetoric to gain some votes from the minorities that he previously insulted, those same minorities are remembering who defended them since the beginning of the campaign. Clinton may have done A LOT of wrong things in her life, however, her immigration rhetoric (in terms of effectiveness) is not one of them.

I believe that the votes that Trump now needs in order to become president rest firmly in Hillary Clinton’s hands. I believe that majority of the minority voters within The U.S. will not be swayed by Trump’s new rhetoric, but rather will stay loyal and devoted to supporting Hillary Clinton, and I believe that Clinton’s immigration rhetoric can be widely attributed to that.

The stance that each candidate holds on immigration policy is amongst the most frequently discussed topics by American voters regarding the Presidential campaign. The media highlights clips that makes their future policies seem as clear as day: Trump wants a wall with all illegals out, Clinton wants to personally send invitations to invite more immigrants in. Although the media creates the idea that the two candidates are firm in what is one of the most polarizing and defining policy positions, rhetoric throughout their campaigns suggests inconsistencies on both ends.

As we all know, Hillary Clinton is far more “qualified” than Trump is when it comes to politics. However, what comes along with the many years of her political participation? That’s right, a political history that is waiting to be delved into. Clinton’s current immigration stance is to defend President Obama’s executive actions to get illegals on track to becoming full and equal citizens. This, however, is very different from her stance in 2003 when she said, “We’ve got to do several things and I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants” during a radio interview.

 

America understood Trump very clearly when he targeted Mexican immigrants as rapists, drug lords, criminals, and “some” good people during his June 16^th announcement speech. His solution to the illegal, undocumented immigrant epidemic- to round them all up and send them back to their home countries and build a wall to keep them out. His plan of employing a strategy of mass removal of every one of the 11 million immigrants within The U.S., while radical, garnered majority of Trump’s supporters alone.

Recently, Trump has reportedly become ‘more soft’ on his immigration policies that he once felt so strongly about. Although he insists that he still has full intentions to build a concrete wall that will be funded by Mexico in order to keep illegal immigrants out, he no longer seems to be so focused on getting the “good” illegal immigrants that are currently within The U.S. borders out. In a recent interview, Trump told Sean Hannity that the good, undocumented immigrants would, “have to pay back taxes” and would not be given any amnesty however he intends to work with them.

Although the two candidate’s have completely opposite ideas of immigration reform, they seem to have one thing in common: change. As the clock continues to tick and the Election Day approaches, it seems that the two candidates will say whatever is necessary to bait in those final votes. It will truly be surprise to us all to see what type of immigration reform will be enacted when either of the two comes into office.