Trump’s Racist Rhetoric Spurs Many Lawful Permanent Residents to Apply for Naturalization to Vote Against Him

Say what you will about Donald Trump’s campaign for the president of the United States. To call it controversial would be an understatement. After he called Mexicans “rapists” and “drug traffickers” and has spewed other derogatory comments against immigrants, many in the immigrant community are mobilizing to apply for citizenship so they can vote in the 2016 presidential election, specifically to vote against Mr. Trump. This is particularly true of lawful permanent residents (LPRs) from Mexico here in Colorado.

Although there are approximately 2.7 million Mexicans who are legal permanent residents and thus eligible to naturalize, only about 36{b6b8f04f7bd4b863c4cfed8339fd19419bda3e071c79bc5ac8c810cb9c52e30f} of those eligible have done so. That is starting to change, thanks in part to Mr. Trump. There are many government agencies who are giving grants to organizations to fund citizenship drives, such as the “Ya es Hora para la Ciudadania” drive in Denver. In a recent New York Times article, Mexicans were interviewed at one such drive at the end of February.

“I want to vote so Donald Trump won’t win,” said Hortensia Villegas, an LPR from Mexico. She came with her husband and other family members. “Donald Trump never! Never!” “He has no conscience when he speaks of Latinos. And he is so rude. I don’t know what kind of education his mother gave him,” said Minerva Guerrero Salazar. She has been working as an LPR for the last decade.

Despite all of these negative feelings towards Mr. Trump, the candidate insists that he “will really do really well with Hispanics.” This stands in stark contrast to a recent poll of Latino voters on February 25 by the Washington Post. The poll found 80{b6b8f04f7bd4b863c4cfed8339fd19419bda3e071c79bc5ac8c810cb9c52e30f} of Latino voters had an unfavorable view of Mr. Trump and that 72{b6b8f04f7bd4b863c4cfed8339fd19419bda3e071c79bc5ac8c810cb9c52e30f} had a very unfavorable view.

So if you are a lawful permanent resident, and you are eligible to naturalize, do so. The Joseph & Hall P.C. has many years of experience handling these applications. It is important for an attorney to review your case to ensure that there are no potential grounds of removability (deportation). If a permanent resident triggers one of these grounds and then applies for naturalization, he risks being referred into deportation proceedings. And if you are already a citizen, do your civic duty and vote this November!