Mexicans Can't Vote in the U.S., But They're Watching Its Election Closely Peter O'Dowd - Here & Now
go to original October 27, 2016

Men pray inside one of the soup kitchens for recently deported migrants in Nogales, Mexico. (Valeria Fernandez/Here & Now)

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, Americans are eager to know who their next president will be.

With any luck, it will be Donald Trump, according to an Arizona rancher we spoke to last week who supports the candidate's strict stance on immigration and border security.

It’s a different story south of the border, where Mexicans are also intently watching the election — even though they can’t vote Nov. 8.

Migrants dining at a soup kitchen run by Jesuit priests in the border town of Nogales, Sonora, have been following the race on social media and Mexican TV. Many of them eating breakfast on a recent morning had just been deported from the United States or were making plans to cross illegally into the U.S. for the first time.

It’s probably no surprise: They were not fans of Trump's plan to build a wall across of the full length of the border and create a deportation force.

"That’s probably what he wants to accomplish, but Mexicans are always going to find a way to cross the border no matter the barriers he puts up," said Janet Savala, who left her home in central Mexico to find better work in the United States.

Others said the proposed wall would keep people out — like the Great Wall of China — but Trump would never get the money to pay for it. And Lamberto Rosas said he started watching the debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton at home with his wife as soon as he decided to leave his family in Sinaloa.

If he got lucky and made it through the desert, he wanted to know what to expect on the other side.

Read the rest at Here & Now

Related: Mexicans Are Wild for Hillary Clinton in Survey (The Washington Times)

Related: Mexico's Problem Goes Beyond US Elections, Straight to the American People (Worldcrunch)

Related: Protectionist Rhetoric in U.S. Campaign Worries Latin Americans (EFE)

Related: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Tinder Opens the US Election Up to the World with 'Swipe the Vote' (The Drum)

Related: How Any Immigrant or Person of Color Can Support Trump Is Beyond Comprehension (Amsterdam News)

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