Mexico – Although they no longer live in the United States, the “dreamers” that have returned to Mexico are in attentive to the 2020 presidential elections, since a re-election of Donald Trump would further complicate the lives of their families, as well as the expectations of returning one day to That country, which many of them have called home.
Young people who arrived illegally to the United States as children were affected by Trump’s decision, pending the Supreme Court’s ruling, to cancel the Deferred Action (DACA) program, a temporary immigration program that allows them to study and work legally.
EFE has contacted four “dreamers” who were deported or returned to Mexico and who expose their fears and political preferences towards the aspiring Democrat Bernie Sanders, whom they consider the closest to migrants.
– ISRAEL CONCHA (Mexico City, 38 years old): “Trump uses migrants as bait to achieve his re-election”
For 34 years he lived in Texas, where he founded a transport company, but everything was truncated a day that exceeded the speed limit while driving. He was arrested and, being undocumented, began a long deportation process for which he spent two years locked in an immigration center.
“We are dealing with a president who uses migrant families as bait and chess piece to get him re-elected,” reproaches the founder of New Beginnings, an organization supporting Mexican deportees and returnees from the United States.
Israel, who was kidnapped on his first day in Mexico, regrets that there is a “big chance” that Trump will be re-elected on November 3 for the good progress of the economy, so he wants to “see someone strong on the Democratic side that can compete. “
“Unfortunately, families continue to be separated and children are detained,” says the activist, whose son, who is still in the United States, was born while facing deportation. The judge in charge of his case did not let him say goodbye to him.
Although he was deported in 2014, under the mandate of Barack Obama, Israel believes that Trump is worse because “he tells the world that it is okay to discriminate” and predicts that “if he is re-elected he will continue the hunt against our community.”
– CHANTAL LÓPEZ (Acapulco, 29 years old): “If Latinos don’t vote, Trump will be re-elected”
Just four months ago, Chantal López arrived in Mexico from California, where she moved with his family at age 10 due to the lack of employment due to violence and the fall of tourism in Acapulco.
Although she does not dominate Spanish one hundred percent, she is more comfortable in his new home than in the United States. “I feel more relaxed and calmer in Mexico because I am not worried about whether they will find me and deport me,” she confesses.
A graduate in Ethnic Studies, she returned to her native country because she wanted to practice her profession instead of “working forever in a restaurant”.
Chantal is clear about her preference for Bernie Sanders because she believes that “he is very interested in helping people who do not have many resources.”
She fears that Trump will win the elections, which could affect her sister residing in the United States, to whom DACA soon expires.
“I want Trump not to win because he has very racist visions and only seeks to help the rich,” says Chantal, who has the bad omen that “if Latino people do not vote, it will be very difficult for Trump not to be re-elected.” .
– MAURICIO LÓPEZ (Mexico City, 25 years old): “The United States is nothing without immigrants”
At three years old Mauricio López arrived with his mother in North Carolina, where his stepfather resided. In 2017, he returned to Mexico after his DACA expired and after living the drama that led to his brother’s deportation.
This young man, who now teaches English in the Mexican capital still remembers the surprise of Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, and regrets that the Republican has brought up the “hidden feelings” that many people had against migrants.
“It is sad that many people I worked with had the idea that we are criminals, ‘bad men’. It was when I decided to leave, because in this country they don’t love me and I don’t have opportunities,” he explains.
For him, the ideal candidate is Sanders because he “has many ideas for migrants” and is clear that the country is a powerhouse thanks to migration. “The United States is nothing without immigrants,” Mauricio notes.
He aspires to return to the United States one day, firmly defending the country that needs “a president who appreciates migration and knows why we are migrating,” while the Latino community must unite to be “stronger” in the face of Government.
– ITZEL ESTÉVEZ, (Puebla, 27 years old): “Americans must educate themselves more about Mexico”
It was not easy for Itzel Estévez to return to Mexico alone in 2010 from California, where she grew up from the age of six. But as an irregular migrant, his professional options in the United States were “very limited” and he did not want his only option to be getting married and having children.
Itzel reveals that his relatives, who stayed in California, “have a little fear with the new election” because of the possibility that Trump will win again, since some are “fixing their papers.”
“I would not like Trump to be reelected,” says Itzel, who believes that “Americans must educate themselves more about Mexico” to better understand the migration phenomenon and why half of the undocumented immigrants in the United States are Mexican.
Itzel recalls that, unlike the image in the United States, the migration of Mexicans to the United States “has dropped a lot” and little by little “job opportunities” in Mexico grow.
Itzel would like to see a political change in Washington since “the Democratic Party supports migrants a little more,” although her main wish is for his family to return to Mexico someday.
