Thread by @HMAesq

It finally happened. Knocking on doors, I met a Latino who voted for Trump.

I know there are many immigrant Trump voters but I'm engaging primarily lean/strong Democrats. Still, every once in a while, you come across a Trump supporter.

This voter wanted to talk immigration.

An educated professional, this voter decried the caravans coming from Cen. America, complaining "they don't even speak Spanish...only dialects" (meaning indigenous languages), they're milking the system, repeating standard GOP talking points about "following the rules."

Oh boy.

I told him if the laws now in place existed when he came decades ago, he wouldn't be allowed in. (And neither would my parents.) Switching to lawyer mode, I walked him through the labor certification process, I-140 ability to pay RFE's, the H-1B lottery, and visa backlogs.

I told him I spent time in Dilley, TX and Tijuana, MX, and *never* talked to anyone who didn't have an internally consistent, corroborated, and plausible story for asylum. I told him where these policies come from, and how they have nothing to do with economic/national security.

I told him we have to think of the border as a tool to enhance prosperity. That only happens when goods, ideas, services, and people can cross *bidirectionally*.

I explained the 10 year bar: it was the anti-immigrant movement to blame for the 11M+ undocumented population.

Then I asked him, "Do you regret it?"

He confessed. "Yes."

He didn't want a wall. He didn't want families to be separated. He realized that our country is neither a private home to bar people nor a company to be run like a business. Trump is exactly who he said he was.

At the end, he shook my hand, and told me "I learned a lot from you. I'm gonna tell my wife about you and my children."

As I left, I told him, "I want to fight for a fair system. Nothing more, nothing less."

I hope I made a little difference.

hassan4va.com