This Dominican Politician Is Against Donald Trump

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican-American congressman visited the offices of People en Español to tell us about his future projects, his message for this generation and why he did not go to the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. "I don't feel connected to the president," confessed Espaillat, who stands out in his political career for being the first congressman to be an illegal immigrant. "In those times, immigrants did not cross borders, we had visit permits and we stayed."

Here is the interesting interview he gave exclusively:

Aside from being the first Dominican-American congressman, you are also the first congressman to be an undocumented immigrant. How does it feel to have managed to get here?

I feel very satisfied and very happy. It is a great privilege and naturally also a great responsibility… And my story, that is an American story, a very American story, and it is a story that should make you reflect and inspire other people. This is a wide, large, benevolent and good nation and it offers opportunities to people. I think that if there is anything that can be said in this political time, it is that if a person like me could make it to Congress, anyone can do it.

More than 400 Latinos traveled to DC to see you swear the charge. How did you feel about this great Latino support?

It is important to get together. It is not only important to be the first, that has its space, but it is more important to arrive as a collective action and with a community that they also feel empowered and participate in the achievement.

Why didn't you go to the inauguration of Donald Trump?

I don't feel connected to the president, I don't think we share the same values. I think his rhetoric is very aggressive, very intolerant and insults Mexicans, [he] abuses women, the disabled, veterans, Muslims.

You and many others, like John Lewis, did not attend. What do you expect that message to convey to Trump?

That he has to respect the differences of the branches of government and govern equanimously with all sectors, and then maybe it can go well for him and the nation. Otherwise there will be a great confrontation between sectors that oppose what he thinks and the sectors that have supported him.

What would you advise young undocumented people who have big dreams and maybe even follow in your footsteps?

That they continue working, that they are doing very well and that we are very proud of them, that they are not disappointed and that we are going to continue working to ensure that in the future they have immigration reform that is protected for them.

If you had to give a message to the Latino community in the face of the results of this election that many feel unmotivated, sad and frustrated, what would you say to them?

Let them vote. We have to vote to demand. The vote of a person who works at McDonald's is worth the same as that of a Wall Street executive. So we have to vote, and if we don't vote then we cannot be felt. I think that many people thought that it was possible that Donald Trump would win, but then many people did not go out to vote and look at what happened.