While Donald Trump has been spewing out clouds of hate and intolerance regarding Hispanic immigrants in the United States, garnering both enthusiastic cheers from crowds and rising poll numbers, what he says has also caused pain and concern among those he is trying to vilify.
A perfect example of this would be a family of Hispanics who were interviewed by CNN just hours before the second GOP debate Wednesday evening. Keep in mind that Tuesday Trump, during his speech on the USS Iowa, had just declared:
“The drugs pour in, and the money pours out. Not a good idea. So we’re going to build a wall.”
The family that spoke to CNN has been in the United States illegally for 14 years. They work, pay taxes, and are not receiving any kind of welfare or public assistance. The father, Francisco, had this to say about Trump:
“I don’t think he represents Americans. We want to prove him and people who think like him that we are here working hard, and face all the time deportation.”
Several years ago, Franciso’s workplace was raided and he spent three months in a detention center. He was eventually released thanks to the efforts of Catholic Charities.
Francisco’s daughter, Fatima, is terrified of what it would mean if Trump were elected and deported her father:
“If he gets deported, I don’t know, I’ll be really sad. Because when he was in jail, I was only a little girl.”
Now in tears, Fatima continued:
“It really hurt me. He wasn’t there for us. They took him away from me.”
And she also had a message for Trump and those who think immigrants are bad people:
“No, we’re not monsters.”
This is the human face of the ridiculous and completely unworkable policy that Donald Trump is peddling across the country like so much snake oil. So here is my challenge to him: Go look Fatima and her father in the eye and tell them that what you want to do is the right thing. Can you do that, Donald? No. You can’t, and you won’t, because you are a gutless windbag who spreads hate without thinking about the consequences of what you say.
