Summary
Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has reignited fears among undocumented migrants with promises of “mass deportations” and migrant communities are bracing for uncertainty and a new wave of nativism.
His administration plans to target those deemed public safety or national security threats, potentially reinstating workplace raids and using military resources.
Advocates warn that “collateral arrests” could sweep up migrants without criminal records.
Many, like “Dreamers” protected under DACA, fear family separations, while others, such as Carlos in NYC, hope Trump’s economic policies might benefit them.
“A lot of Latinos, those who can vote, did so because they think he [Trump] can improve the economy. That would be very good for us too,” said Carlos, an undocumented Mexican who lives in New York City.
First off, before I continue. I voted blue.
But it’s naive to not see voting as transactional. Even more so when major issues face America and humanity, has tested and proven solutions.
For example, Healthcare. The solution to America’s Healthcare crisis is Universal health care. With the middle ground between Universal and fully private is the public option. Neither party would even entertain the notion of a public opinion. The Democratic party could have secured millions of votes if they added public option or universal to their platform. They knew this. All the polling said those were overwhelming popular positions to have. It’s poor leadership and poor advising that kept Harris from having that.
Several polls and Arab, Palestinian, and liberal organizations told the party, that not having a concrete plan to save Palestinian lives would cost Harris millions of votes. It’s poor leadership and advising to not have Palestinian sovereignty and return to post ww2 boarders as part of the campaign. It’s not like Christian evangelicals and zionest were going to vote blue anyways? So why not appeal to your base and a large voting demographic?
I can go on with several other progressive topics. (education, military spending, justice reform, foreign policy, wealth redistribution, climate, money on politics, ect.) So many progressive solutions to very real problems were never addressed or openly opposed by Democrats. The only downside to taking up those causes would have been money from top donors.
Voting is inherently transactional and will always be that way. For “my” vote your platform must have zxy and you must try to get as close to xyz as possible. If you don’t have xyz why should I vote for you? You don’t care about my issues and values, why should I care about yours. It’s the world we live in. Either the democrats take up a full progressive agenda or they’ll continue to lose in the most critical time in human history.