Item — HN Reader

I had a Panamanian neighbor who was big on Trump in 2024 primarily because of his stance on immigration. My neighbor felt that since they and their family had come to the US legally, it was only fair to kick out those who had come illegally. There assumption is that this would be a tough-on-crime thing and that the existing law would applied strongly but fairly with respect to the legal status of the people being deported.

Folks from communities of color in the United States I have generally experienced as trending conservative in their values (Oakland notwithstanding). Trump being a 'tough guy' and a 'macho' is often well-received.

Also, for many folks, Trump has long been seen as something to aspire to and someone to emulate. Trump sells a very American and New York image of success, many people believe they want the life he has (notoriety, money, cars, beautiful wife, mistress, good-looking kids, glitz, etc). The Apprentice was a big success for a reason, it sold a version of reality many people wanted to believe in.

So yeah. People don't believe in race. They believe in money and power.

1 comments

It's a very immigrant thing to be susceptible to the strongman political manipulations of the country they left, to believe that emulation and imitation can bring luck/success. America is very much defined by immigrant dreaming.

Which is why it is nonsense to say banning immigration is anything other than anti-American.

The idea that it would be a crackdown on illegal immigration was an essentially greedy belief that legal immigrants, especially Hispanic, would be elevated in status. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Their skin color, their language and their community all mark them as targets for harassment.

It will be very hard for the machismo cultures to accept that they were deceived so they'll vote for Trump again.

Do we really want a bunch of immigrants that are susceptible to strongman political manipulations?

Unfortunately there is less incentive for talented and qualified people from prosperous democracies to more to the US. There is significant drama in obtaining a work visa (high sponsor administrative burden), you are tied to an employer, it is difficult for your spouse to also get a visa, etc.

So the source of high skill immigrants is countries with dictators and economic dysfunction. That used to include places like Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, etc. The first generation brings new ideas and cultural flavour, the second generation is completely American. As long as you don't have religious schools and ethnic charter schools getting state funds, integration is systematic and inevitable.