(Author’s note: This post was edited on June 9, 2016 at 09:25ET in order to embed the video.) There have been several comments directed at me lately telling me that Donald Trump’s comments about Mexico sending rapists and murderers was not directed at me. So the question is, was Donald Trump referring to me, or others like me, when he stated that Mexico is sending the worst people over the border. As many of you know, I am an immigrant from Mexico living legally in the United States. When I write, “others like me,” I mean other legal immigrants in the US, especially those from Mexico. It has been the underlining commentary – that Trump was not referring to “legal” immigrants when he made his comments.
Although I reject the notion that there is a significant difference between “legal” and “undocumented” immigrants, for today’s post I am going to focus on “legal” immigrants from Mexico and Trump’s comments. Rather than rely on the distorted news and political commentary, I am going straight to the source of the comments. I also added a video so that you can hear Trump’s words yourself.
It all started almost a year ago, on June 16, 2015, during Donald Trump’s formal announcement that he was running for president in 2016. About eight minutes into his announcement speech, Trump stated:
“When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best, they are not sending you, they are not sending you, they are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems with us [sic]. They are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists, and some, I assume are good people, but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting. And it only makes common sense, it only makes common sense, they are sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It is coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming, probably, probably, from the Middle East. But we don’t know because we have no protection, and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening.”
First of all, my government, the Mexican government, did not send me to the United States. As a matter of policy, it is unlikely that Mexico “sends” its citizens to the United States. However, some of you would debate that, forcing us to be distracted by something neither of us can prove to each other conclusively.
So, let me focus on his actual comments. He stated that “they are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists,” and then he adds, “some, I assume are good people.”
So, do I fit in the rapists column or in the good people column?
“Some” is a very imprecise word. Does “some” include me? If so, am I a minority representative of Mexico? Am I one of the few that are law abiding? Or, am I one of the criminals that Trump is referring to?
I decided to attempt to answer that question by looking at subsequent public comments made by Trump about the issue.
On July 1, 2015, CNN’s Don Lemon asked Donald Trump, in a telephone interview, to clarify his statement about Mexican rapists coming from Mexico.
Donald Trump responded “…I didn’t say about Mexicans, I say the illegal immigrant, if you look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything coming illegally into this country, they’re mind boggling.”
Throughout the interview, Trump kept referring to “studies,” especially Fusion, that, according to Trump, showed significant cases of rapes. Lemon pointed out that the three studies Trump referred to were referring to women being raped, not that undocumented aliens were doing the raping. To which Donald Trump responded, “somebody is doing the raping…who’s doing the raping.”
Then on July 6, 2015, Fox News’ Howard Kurtz asked Donald Trump about the Mexican comments he made on an exclusive interview on “Tight Shot”. Kurtz asked Trump, “why not” apologize for the comments. Trump responded that he did not need to apologize and reiterated that the comment was about the insecurity at the border. Trump added, “I employ thousands of Mexicans…I have employed many thousands of Mexicans…I love the Mexican people…they are fantastic, and everyone knows that.”
When challenged about his “tone” by using words like “rapist,” Donald Trump brought up that many “woman crossing the border are being raped.” Trump reiterated the fear of open borders that many have articulated over the years.
On July 11, 2015, in a press conference about dealing with undocumented immigrants, Donald Trump again addressed his “rapist” comments. Trump, again stated that “Mexico, is sending people that Mexico doesn’t want, and everyone knows, that was what I was saying and everyone knows that I have great relationships with Mexican people. I have many, many people who work for me who are Mexican people, they are phenomenal people, I love them.”
Ok, so now, not only does he “love” the Mexican people, but his rhetoric is about undocumented immigrants that are the “rapists”. Trump and others have argued that Donald Trump’s comments, about Mexicans, was targeted at the undocumented immigrants, not legal immigrants like myself. Others have also argued that Trump is talking about the Mexican government, and not individuals, again, like myself.
The problem that I have with Donald Trump’s political rhetoric is that it points to an attitude that groups many people by nationality and heritage. Let us assume, for a moment, that Donald Trump really means that it is the government of Mexico that is “sending” rapists across the border.
First, I am not aware of any official Mexican government policy of “sending” Mexicans across the border. I am aware of the notion that some hold that the Mexican government supports the undocumented labor force in the United States because of the remittances sent by them to family members in Mexico. I disagree with this sentiment wholeheartedly because I see no evidence that it is a matter of policy, that the Mexican government “sends” people across the border. As a matter of fact, Mexico continuously irritates prosecutors by intervening in criminal cases that carry the death penalty involving Mexican citizens. Mexico and the United States, as a matter of fact, have a bilateral treaty whereby each country’s citizens can serve their criminal sentences in their respective countries. The rhetoric that Mexico exports its criminal element to the United States is not supported by the facts.
But let us table that discussion for a moment.
Donald Trump is articulating a wrongly held belief, that many hold, that Mexicans by and large are fundamentally criminal. Here is where we get into the slippery slope of citizenship and heritage.
The term “Mexican” is almost always misused in the common vernacular, especially in political rhetoric.
As misused, a “Mexican” can either be a citizen of Mexico, documented or undocumented, or an individual of Mexican heritage of either nationality.
I am both, a citizen of Mexico and of Mexican heritage. I am also an immigrant.
Making a universal statement about Mexicans being predisposed to criminality leaves the impression that the grand majority of the over 30 million people of Mexican-heritage in the United States are criminals. Making the argument that Mexico “sends” criminals across the border leaves the impression that Mexican immigrants, like myself, are predisposed to be criminals.
But, Donald Trump has reiterated that he “loves” Mexican people and that “many Mexicans” have worked for him over the years. The argument being that I am taking Trump’s comments personally, although he didn’t mean me.
The fact is that I do not know if Donald Trump meant me specifically or was he talking about other Mexicans. I have never met Donald Trump and therefore I have never asked him if he meant me personally. Regardless, Trump knows nothing about me so he would be unable to offer a fair assessment of me.
What I do know is that the tone of his commentary offends me. I believe that it is a deeply-held belief that Donald Trump has within himself about Mexicans. Obviously, he is unlikely to admit it publicly, especially in midst of the presidential race.
However, to show you this fundamental thought process that exists within Trump, all I need to do is point you to a CNN interview that Donald Trump gave on June 3, 2016, just a few days ago. The interview shows you clearly that it is about his animosity about the Mexican heritage, notwithstanding his political rhetoric.
CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Donald Trump numerous times about whether Trump’s comments, about the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuits, were “racist” comments. Trump stated, “this judge is of Mexican heritage, I’m building a wall.” When challenged about invoking the judge’s race, Trump responded, “I’m building a wall, ok, I’m building a wall, I’m trying to keep business out of Mexico.” When challenged with the fact that the judge is a US citizen, Trump responded that “he is of Mexican heritage.”
Do you see the generalized argument that the judge is biased against Trump because he is a “Mexican”? Trump argues that the reason that he is still in litigation is because of the judge’s “heritage,” ending the discussion with “I’m building a wall…he’s a Mexican…it’s a wall between the United States and Mexico”.
Anyone critically listening to Donald Trump’s recent tirade against the judge, a US citizen, born and raised in the United States, can clearly see that Donald Trump has an animosity towards Mexicans, both the citizens of Mexico and those of Mexican heritage, whether legal or undocumented.
For me, this latest example reinforces that Donald Trump included me in the general category of being a Mexican rapist when he delivered his presidential announcement over a year ago. Of this, I have no doubt.
Does Mexico send people, didn’t Mexico provide maps and helpful tips ? Does Mexico discourage or stop the people from crossing without documentation ? Is money sent home revenue for Mexico ? Does Mexico do anything to improve lives of its citizens so they would prefer to stay ? Why does Mexico hate a border wall while it maintains one on its southern border ?
Trump readily states that he knows it’s not just Mexicans violating U.S. Immigration laws. Is that a racist statement ? Is he a racist ? Perhaps, only he knows. Is he more racist than the average person, I don’t know him so I don’t know. By the same token, I don’t know who really is a racist. If one uses racial slurs or denigrates others, whether it’s in private or in public, are they racist ? Most of you would deny it and justify the language as just joking or flash anger. Remember, the racial slurs at the State Dem convention a couple of years ago ? One person yelled it repeatedly so ALL Dems are racist ?
People of the same ethicity feel superior to the darker ones. Is that racist ? Or it is ok because they are of the same heritage? Nigga, mojato, mayate, gavacho (excuse spellings). If you even just think about those adjectives, you ARE a racist ! Oh, wait the hate speech or anger is directed at one person but not your close friends. Close friends that are of other ethic groups.
In some form or another, we are all members of some type of minority or subjected to discrimination. Some hate fat people, some hate skinny, red hair, green eyes, sexuality, religion, region, nationality and political affiliation. Some are still fighting the civil war ! So before suggesting that only others are racist or prejudice, start by looking in the mirror. Think about your speech and thoughts. Yes, thinking it is as bad as saying it.
The current administration constantly blames whites for everything ? Isn’t that racist ? We see whites supporting that view. ? Oh, they are the “good” ones, only the ones that disagree are racist. Well, if one person is blamed, are others of the same group guilty ?
While Trump was inarticulate, the point he made about the judge isn’t racist. The judge belongs to La Raza Lawyers of San Diego which is an ethnocentric political activist group with a PAC that makes it very clear that getting their endorsement of candidates requires demonstrated service to Latino causes. When I hear La Raza, I tend to think radical ethnocentric agenda. Let’s imagine this was a non-Hispanic white judge who belonged to a group called Aryan Lawyers of Birmingham and the Presidential candidate was Black. If the same decisions were being made on a similar civil suit and the plaintiff questioned whether or not the judge was biased against him, would we be drawing the same conclusions? Probably not. And Martin while you may not believe Mexico sends illegal aliens, the folks I listened to at my former employer who were heavily involved in the PAN seemed to think otherwise and that it was a brilliant idea.
Anglocentric
We wonder if Martin and a few others here would feel they would get a fair treatment before a white judge who belonged to say a White American Lawyers Association and at the same time they were running for office. In addition the association had supported those you were running against and had openly opposed you as a candidate. Sure Martin would be writing a connect the dots piece to why he can’t get a fair trail before such a judge.
Funny how some haves double standard of fairness.
The problem is we have to many jurist on the bench that are activist judges and attempt to legislate from the bench and fail to leave their personal biases, personal belief on the court house steps where they belong.
Well, at least it’s not this bad yet here: “Many of the refugees and asylum seekers who go out at the weekend do not know the rules. When they see a girl, they go crazy, trying to grope her or grab her clothes,” Haderslev night club owner Rafi Ibrahim, himself an immigrant from Syria who has been living in Denmark for several years, told the Copenhagen Post.” – as reported by Russia Today.
Other migrant horror stories appear almost daily in the EU press. In the UK, they’re having to teach them how to use flush toilets, a social skill taken for granted in the Anglo-European heteronormal civilized world now unraveling around us. Sharia patrols wander London and Copenhagen streets shutting down pubs, like modern day Carrie Nations, or extorting them to stay open. a practice they could have learned recently in Juarez. The police and the PC press routinely suppress stories of migrant violence and intimidation there.
Trump is deservedly in his meltdown phase. When Hillary is POTUS, there will be no effective borders anymore. What we see now in the EU is coming to to us. Get ready.