I’m reaching out here because it’s hard to talk to you face to face. Sometimes my appearance and accent make me feel insecure when I cross paths with you. I’ve heard how, at rallies for former President Trump and Vance, their supporters cheer loudest when they promise the largest deportation in history, starting from day one. Trump has admitted he plans to execute this promise by invoking the 1789 Alien Enemies Act.
Trump has outlined “Operation Aurora,” a plan to mobilize local police and U.S. armed forces on American soil for the “mother of all deportations.” To the MAGA movement, the migration crisis is an invasion. If implemented, Trump could hold unilateral power to track, detain and mass-deport foreign-born individuals—or even confine them in detention camps. Trump portrays cities as “war zones” of “immigrant crime.” Although the numbers don’t support this, the narrative of a “nation under siege” by millions of migrants—described as “animals,” “criminals,” “terrorists,” and “mentally ill,” who even “eat people’s pets”—has been planted in the minds of many Americans.
When we cross paths, I offer a quiet smile, while your gaze sometimes seems wary, other times even hostile. It’s disheartening that you and I are made to fear each other, each seeing the other as a potential threat.
I understand your fear—truly, I know well that feeling of insecurity and uncertainty; it’s what brought me here, after all.
I know you have reasons to mistrust politicians, parties, and leaders who show up when they need your vote and then forget us. I realize that other issues, like certain trends within the “woke” movement, also make MAGA appealing to you. I know the extremes can sometimes meet in a blind spot where fanaticism takes root.
I know you love your family and want to control your children’s education according to your values; my community, too, deeply values family. I know inflation affects nearly all of us, yet we’re still in the world’s strongest economy, recovering from the pandemic and endless wars.
Neighbor, I see how hard you work, how early you leave and how late you return. I’d love to genuinely chat with you one day, to share my concerns and hear yours. I think we’ve all been misled by disinformation and propaganda that cast us as enemies.
I wish the fog clouding our vision and trust would lift without erasing our differences. Like many immigrants, including your ancestors, I came here with a hope I still hold: to contribute to my new home and build a future.
The MAGA leaders who might soon govern with Trump are distant from us, the working class. Elon Musk, ineligible for the presidency himself, has secured a place in their potential administration. I heard him and others speak at a rally in New York, and none of them resemble you, MAGA neighbor. I only hope you didn’t cheer the insults they hurled that wounded so many of us. They view us as strangers, vastly different from them.
I’m secure in who I am, in my identity, and I celebrate diversity—it’s what makes cultures so rich. Like you, I am an American citizen, and I love this “nation of nations” where opportunity still prevails.
MAGA neighbor, on the island of Puerto Rico, I can’t vote for the president, but here, I can. And I will vote—not based on appearances or subjective perceptions, but with the conviction that ideas can be flawed when they’re built on misleading information. I will vote with a clear conscience, moved by love for my fellow human, and yes, as a believer, with love for my “enemy.” I will vote not out of fear or hatred. How about you?
P.S. If you can’t help but see me as an enemy, then consider me a necessary one. We Latinos in the United States represent the world’s fifth-largest economy, contributing $3.2 trillion and powering significant economic growth.
