From someone unqualified to give any sort of advice

On the morning of November 6, the day after the presidential election’s polls closed, the announcement that Donald Trump would assume office hit the front pages. A whopping 45% of Hispanic voters cast their ballots for president-elect Trump for reasons that I, among 55% of other Hispanics, can’t quite wrap my mind around. 

This statistic was, understandably, met with confusion. Was it not just a couple of weeks ago that a comedian at a Trump rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”? Isn’t a core part of Trump’s campaign instilling fear about migrants coming through Central and South America? But that didn’t seem to faze almost half of Latino voters. Some said they trusted Trump to improve the economy; others said he could fix “out of control” immigration. 

But now that the dust has cleared, people in real life and online have taken these numbers as an excuse to wish serious harm upon those who voted red. One of the most common sentiments I’ve heard and seen is a desire for those voters to be deported thanks to Trump’s proposed mass deportation plan. This is what worries me about our community.

We shouldn’t respond to the outcome of the election by tearing down and dehumanizing the Latinos who voted for him. This is not me saying that someone’s personal political views are not important or indicative of who they are. This is also not me saying that you should feel forced to keep people who voted against you in your life. But going online and saying that you can’t wait for the Latinos who voted red to be deported is not the mic-drop you think it is. 

Let’s not stoop to the level of those who voted against us by instilling fear and hatred in people. That is not who we are.

And to the Latinos who voted for Trump — I do not wish for you to be deported. I don’t want your family to be ripped apart like so many others have. I don’t want you, immigrant or not, to be sent back to a country where you have no choice but to start over. What I do wish for you, however, is to know that if that does happen to you, it is because of the man you helped put into office. I don’t wish you pain, I wish you understanding.

Header photo: “Donald Trump supporters” taken by Gage Skidmore on February 19, 2020 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0