Immigration has emerged as one of the leading political issues driving voter decision-making in this election. As Trump and the GOP double down on racist anti-immigrant rhetoric, many migrant voters are heading to the polls with a plan to vote defensively. TRNN and Belly of the Beast join forces to speak with migrant justice activists in Baltimore on the mood of the local immigrant community ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Liz Oliva Fernández, Cameron Granadino, Alyssa Oursler
Videography/Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Audio Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
Maximillian Alvarez: So, we’re here in downtown Baltimore. The Real News Network is teaming up with Belly of the Beast, and we are just days away from the US presidential elections. And right now the polls are showing that the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is incredibly close.
And Liz, at the center of Donald Trump’s campaign, everything has been driven by fear and lies about an immigrant invasion into the US, and promises to mass deport undocumented people if Trump’s elected.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Who ends up becoming the next president of the United States is not only going to affect the life of the immigrant community here in Baltimore, in the US, but also can affect the life of people like mine, in Cuba. The US media [loves to] talk a lot about migration, a migration crisis and wave in the United States, but they never mention how US policy caused it.
Maximillian Alvarez: When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed here in Baltimore back in March, six immigrant construction workers who were working on the bridge at the time lost their lives. And you know Liz, it was like, for a brief moment, the invisible lives and struggles, and frankly, the humanity of our immigrant community here became temporarily visible to the rest of the country.
But then that all quickly went away. And since then, it’s just been nonstop xenophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from Donald Trump, his campaign, and from right-wing media. It’s endless.
Donald Trump [clip]: They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done… They’re pouring into our country. Nobody’s even looking at ‘em. They just come in. The crime is going to be tremendous.
…What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country — And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — Not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it, because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating… They’re eating the pets.
Ricardo Ortiz: I think for my community, we are receiving so many attacks from one candidate and his people. So that makes me very anxious about what will be next. And also, I know there are so many possibilities that this person can win.
When you have somebody who is saying things like, all the immigrants are bad people — But let’s be clear, it’s not all the immigrants. It’s only immigrants of color, or immigrants from Central America. People who Trump says, they are very bad hombres, or very bad people. But that is not true…
So I can definitely feel in some parts of the country, people who look at me weird. Or sometimes people say bad things like, oh, these people are eating animals. And that’s something that you feel bad about, because they don’t know you, but for some reason they believe you are a bad person.
Lucia Islas: Everybody says, why does the United States have to keep these people here. Why? Because from the beginning of this country, we’ve been told that this country is free, and that’s why we come here. We’re looking for freedom. We’re looking for a better life. We are looking for… Also to make this country better. We pay taxes. We do a lot of things. We work very hard.
And as you can see right now, the Key Bridge here in Baltimore, it was a huge impact. Nobody knows that immigrants were working there. That’s a shame. Latino or immigrants work for the worst jobs here in this country. So, we deserve a better thing. We deserve a better life.
Liz Oliva Fernández: I know when you make the news, when something happened, terrible happened to the people you actually love. That’s the thing that happens with Cuba. What do you know about Cuba? What do you see in the news about Cuba? It’s always something negative, when something terrible is happening in my country, or it’s a new trend coming.
But that’s the main reason why I’m here today, because I know how US policy impacts the people in Cuba, my country. But I also want to understand and know how these elections are going to impact the life of people in Baltimore.
Susana Barrios: We all work together, as immigrants. So we can work together with the Haitian community and with the Nepali community, and we have more in common than difference.
…Baltimore, especially Baltimore City, doesn’t have anti-immigrant policies per se. Not as scary as the ones in Florida. In Florida, you can get stopped just because you look like me, and that’s just suspicion enough. So, Florida and other states have a lot of anti-immigrant policies, and there’s a danger that might grow.
So then people want to come over here. But it’s very difficult because housing is very limited, jobs are very limited. So for example, during the pandemic, everybody got to stay home. A lot of them didn’t qualify for food stamps or unemployment insurance, and they kept on working. You would still see people working in construction — They got up every day, they went to work. We were the ones that were getting the most sick, because we were exposed to a lot of… To work, while we were out. And then we would come home and we would get our families sick.
But we kept on going. We kept on going because it was the only way that we could make a living. We just want an opportunity to make a living and be safe. Because some people come here because they’re afraid, they’re running away from their country because it’s a dangerous place. And we just want an opportunity to make a decent living and be safe.
Ricardo Ortiz: I work for a nonprofit, and every day we receive calls from people to say, hey, I work with this employee and they don’t want to pay me. And they say, if I [tell] somebody or if I call the Department of Labor, they call ICE or they deport me.
Lucia Islas: All the things that he’s been saying, my community is so afraid, saying that if Donald Trump wins, they’re going to leave the country. They are afraid, they don’t want to be here. Even professional people, they say, if he wins, I’m leaving.
Even in the school, the other kids like American or other kids, they were making fun of the kids like, oh, the immigration is going to come for your family. So, that was not okay.
Maximillian Alvarez: The thing is that on the Democratic side, Kamala Harris and the Democrats, at least rhetorically, are taking a more humane approach. They’re saying more of the right things. But at the policy level, they have fully doubled down on the Republicans’, and frankly, the far-right’s framing of the immigration issue, and the border security issue. And so that’s leaving a lot of people in this country feeling like they have nowhere to turn.
And I got to tell you, Liz, a lot of immigrant and mixed status families in this country are extremely anxious right now.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Yeah, it’s the same anxiety we share. Because for us, it’s not a difference between the US policy on Cuba in a Democratic government and in a Republican, because both parties are the same against hard line and Cuba policy.
How are you feeling ahead of the election?
Susana Barrios: I’m feeling very anxious because everything is up in the air.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Why?
Susana Barrios: Well, because people are very confused, and I think some people are not liking the choices that they have. And in the immigrant community, remember, a lot of them cannot vote, but they pay taxes. So for example, somebody with a green card, they’re here legally, they pay taxes, they can work, they can go in and out of the country, but they cannot vote. So a lot of decisions are going to be made without them being able to give their input.
And my brother always says, this is taxation without representation. Because we pay taxes, and we are not represented.
Lucia Islas: I’m kind of anxious, but at the same time, I am very hopeful. The candidate that I’m looking for has to look for the benefits that everyone can have. Not just the American, not just the African American, not just the immigrant, everyone. I’m looking for equity and I’m looking to be transparent. We are not looking for someone that lies and takes advantage of the immigrant.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Do you have that candidate now?
Lucia Islas: Yes, I do.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Who is?
Lucia Islas: Kamala.
And I just want to say to my community: please don’t be afraid. I know, I know if we come out to vote, Kamala is going to win. So please don’t be afraid of that.
Maximillian Alvarez: And Liz, you and I have been talking about, and as we’ve been hearing from folks around Baltimore, this is not just an election issue. This is not just a political debate. These are human beings with lives, families, communities that we’re talking about here.
And as the son of a Mexican immigrant, as the foster father of a Honduran immigrant, this is personal to me, as it is for so many people. And yet, when we’re talking about potentially mass deporting 10 million people, it’s like those are just numbers to so many people out there.
Liz Oliva Fernández: Yeah. Sadly, it is. And for me, it’s also personal because when we talk about migration, we can’t forget the cost of the migrations. People are not leaving their own countries, their home country, their family, the culture, because they want to just go, and see, and live the American life. No, this, because most of the time they have been forced to do it.
So being here, being part of this process, is an honor, but also a privilege for me. Because it also makes me clear, more clear, that the journalism that we do, the way that we focus the stories that we choose to tell, and to visualize, is worth it.
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