Three days before the American presidential election, head to Arizona, a southern state, bordering Mexico, where the issue of immigration is one of the most discussed themes in debates between Republicans and Democrats. According to official sources, legal arrivals and illegal crossings of foreign people have increased under the Biden administration.
Arizona is one of the busiest routes for illegal crossings with between 50,000 and 60,000 arrests per month. Can this immigration issue influence voters' votes?
On site, we realize that everything is a question of feeling. At the crossing point in the city of Nogales, closest to the border, Jaime confides: “It's huge, it's many, many people, a whole world of people. Didn't you see them marching? All these people are here, there are thousands and thousands of them.” Jaime speaks right in front of the steel gantry that hundreds of dual nationals and cross-border workers naturally pass through every day. Jaime was born in the United States, but he calls himself Mexican.
“What I find unfair is that the Mexicans who built this country, who made the United States a great country, have been asking for papers for 30 years. Those from other countries, they don't care. not even if they have a criminal record and they are told 'Welcome to the United States!' This is totally stupid.”
“These migrants did not come to work, they want us to give them everything, food vouchers, to pay them the rent, to give them a check for each child, but if you don't come to work , you are not coming to accomplish something, stay in your country!”Jaime slices. He has always voted Democratic but this time it will be Trump, because according to him the country was much better when he was president.
You don't have to go very far to understand where Jaime finds his arguments. On the road, on the radio, Republican campaign spots on immigration are on repeat. “While tons of people are lobbying our public policies, Washington leaves the doors open and we pay”we hear in the post. Along the wall that separates the United States from Mexico – which Donald Trump extended between 2016 and 2020 and wants to finish if it is real – after tens of kilometers, arrival at Cindy's near Kino Spring. She goes to the portal to respond to franceinfo.
“You know, since I've lived here I must have seen two pass by and I swear it's true. I've never seen these hordes of people crossing, that's why it annoys me when I see it on TV.”
Will Cindy vote? “Yes! Democrat!” she says. “I'm very tense because I love living here and I don't want them to impose all these regulations and rules on us”explains Cindy before her husband interrupts the interview. “I think that’s enough, guys.”. Cindy really wants to talk to franceinfo, but inside, behind the curtains, her husband prefers that the interview stops there. “Get the hell out of here or I’ll call the cops, enough talking!”
We clearly feel that this theme of immigration creates a certain tension, but that absolutely does not discourage the candidates from the start. Diafredo is waiting for his appointment at the immigration office with around ten other Haitians, an appointment obtained thanks to the CBP One application, created by the Biden administration. Diafredo is quite relieved to cross the border before the election. “It’s important to me, it was Biden’s program and we don’t know if it will be able to continue.”
Like everyone else, Diafredo heard Donald Trump claim that Haitians love pets like dogs or cats. “No, we don’t eat cat.”
“Trump shocks Haitians, but a person who speaks badly about you gives you even more strength.”
Donald Trump has repeated his desire to put an end to this rampant immigration. To do this, some supporters of the Republican go very far in this state, like Joe Arpaio, a legend with a sulphurous reputation in Arizona. For 30 years he was known as the toughest sheriff in the United States. “We have a big army fighting battles all over the world and we couldn’t fight one at our border in the face of illegal immigration pouring into our lands?”he asks.
“Now how do you clear a border? Well the military is interesting. Why don't we send our military to Mexico just over the border to work with the Mexican army, like we do elsewhere with these foreign countries, to stop all this?”
Donald Trump has never dared to mention the army to resolve the immigration problem, but he promises large campaigns of mass expulsions.
