Illegal Immigrant: I Supported Trump For President

A major topic of controversy surrounding President-Elect Donald Trump is his vow to enforce immigration laws and repeal President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy that prevents undocumented youth in the United States from being deported. DACA does not grant legal status.

Media networks such as CNN ran stories this week about all the tears shed by “immigrant youths” who fear being deported under a Trump presidency, some of whom may have even become suicidal because Hillary Clinton lost the election last week.

All the hysteria surrounding Trump’s immigration plans reminded me of a friend who had once told me in confidentiality that he is an undocumented immigrant but his friends do not know. Despite his illegal status, he tells me, he does not think Trump will deport him. After interviewing him this week with his consent, I felt his story was so fascinating it deserved to be shared in its entirety. I will call him Illegal Conservative Emigrant (ICE) for the sake of keeping his identity anonymous for the time being (and for the sheer irony of it.)

Here is how the interview went:

The Daily Wire: How old were you when you immigrated to the United States?

ICE: I came to the United States when I was 9.

TDW: Did you travel here with your family? How did you make it across the border?

ICE: I crossed the border via car using someone’s birth certificate, with my brother and sister. My parents walked through the desert for a couple of days to cross the border. My dad came a year before us, while my mom went at around the same time my siblings and I did.

TDW: What is your immigration status?

ICE: I am an undocumented immigrant currently without any legal status. I benefited under DACA.

TDW: Does the rest of your family share the same status?

ICE: My siblings share the same status.

TDW: Do you plan to get a green card and become a citizen eventually?

ICE: Yes, we do.

TDW: Are you currently employed? Did you attend college?

ICE: Yes, I work for a minor conservative organization. I have a couple of Associate degrees, but since I am ineligible to apply for student loans, because I need an American co-signer, my educational career was cut short. I plan to finish one day, and then attend law school and practice, and join the Air Force. Then after my service I want to practice 1st Amendment law. I have a research paper published on first amendment theory.

TDW: Did you vote in any of this year’s elections? Who would you have voted for if you could vote legally, and why?

ICE: I have never voted, but I have volunteered for countless Republican congressional races. No one knows I am illegal though. I wish I could have voted, and if I had, I would likely have voted for Evan McMullin, because he was the most conservative person running for president.

TDW: If you had to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for president, who would you support, and why?

ICE: No way in hell would I ever vote for Hillary Clinton. She is the most corrupt and insincere politician I have ever known.

If it came down to Hillary or Trump, I would support Donald Trump because he has the right idea when deporting criminal illegal aliens. One of the issues that prevents my family from attaining a green card, and ultimately citizenship, is because the border is not secure, and criminals give hard working people like my family a bad name.

If America can rid itself of criminal aliens, who do not deserve to be here, then the argument becomes whether America should allow productive immigrants to stay. I strongly believe my family and I will have a path to the American Dream once criminal aliens are deported.

TDW: Trump has vowed to repeal DACA. Do you feel that you may be alienating yourself by supporting him, or any other Republican, for that matter? Do you think he might deport you and your family, possibly within the first 100 days of being in office?

ICE: I think some Republican lawmakers support the basic premise of DACA, but I don’t think I alienate myself from any major Republicans for supporting Trump. I do feel alienated from certain members of the Hispanic community for being Republican (in principle, not registration), and conservative. I have been called a self-hating racist, and some even more egregious names by many liberals.

I think Donald Trump will begin deport criminal aliens in his first 100 days, but I don’t think (and I hope) Trump will not deport families like mine.

After the interview, ICE told me that, as a strict constitutionalist, he did not think the Democratic Party cared about illegal immigrants as much as its platform boasted.

“Democrats pretend to care to falsely accuse Republicans as xenophobic and racist,” he said. “Republican party cares about illegal immigrants, but they also care for the rule of law. So they have to balance the two competing ideas when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants.”

He added he thinks DACA should end because of its unlawfulness, but that he would like to see Congress pass similar legislation. Ultimately, he said he felt that whatever course of action was good for America, would be good for him as an immigrant. He thinks joining the military would be his way of contributing to the process, and he dreams of doing so legally someday.

“I have been to almost every single branch of the military when I left high school,” he said. “I was turned down, in this order, the Marines, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, State National Guard, the Air National Guard, and lastly, the Army again. The last time I went to the Army through a program called MAVNI. I was ready to go to MEPs, and then boot camp, but the Army hit their quota, and I didn’t go. It is my dream to sign a blank check, wear the uniform, and put my life on the line for America.”

Follow Pardes Seleh on Twitter.