A scene from the nine-day march to the Wisconsin State Capitol in 2022. Marchers, organized by Voces de la Frontera, demanded immigration reform from the federal government. (Photo | Joe Brusky)

As an undocumented American I have been holding my breath throughout this campaign season. I am fortunate to have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, but like millions of other immigrants, I’m not just worrying about health care reforms or economic policies. We are fighting for our lives, our loved ones, and the dream of one day belonging to the only place millions of us call home. This election feels like a perilous moment in time where everything is hanging in the balance. 

Each campaign rally, debate, and potential policy change announcement feels personal. Each candidate’s words either threaten or bring solace. 

There is a blend of excitement and fear but overall dread. The deep lingering fear of deportation on the horizon and the impact of living in constant uncertainty, but on the other hand there’s a spark of possibility that finally one of these candidates will do right by us. That maybe, just maybe a pathway to citizenship is within reach. Every time that hope grows, it is shadowed by the possibility that things might never change or worse, regress.

We can’t take a day off from  the dreadful reality of living day-to-day as an undocumented person in a country that has increasingly polarized views on immigration regardless of who’s in office. Many of us have been here for years, working hard, contributing to Medicaid and Social Security funding with no security for ourselves. Yet in some corners of this nation we are still viewed as outsiders. We live in constant fear of our families being separated, and the grumbling feeling that we are somehow “illegal” and as if our existence is a crime.  We hope to finally be seen  as human.

The heaviest burden is waiting for the next administration to change everything for us, not knowing if whoever is in office  will truly follow through for better or worse. There’s a part of us that wonders if we’ll ever be able to celebrate a concrete win. And so we wait, quietly and carefully, trying to believe that hope will be justified. 

Watching from the sidelines, we know that a path to citizenship would not only change our lives but would be an affirmation that we are finally a part of American history. And so we wait, with a knot in our throats, our future hanging on the outcome. Knowing that no matter what happens, we will keep fighting to belong in a place where we call home.

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Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, answers questions at a Univision town hall on Oct. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Felipe Cuevas/TelevisaUnivision)

Vice President Kamala Harris fielded a series of questions from undecided Latino voters on Thursday during an emotional town hall in Las Vegas hosted by Univision.

Harris continues to court this key voting bloc as Election Day rapidly approaches and she and former President Donald Trump vie for the Oval Office in an extremely close race.

Thursday’s town hall — featuring questions on subjects ranging from immigration and health care, to abortion and the economy — came as the Harris campaign launched the “Hombres con Harris” initiative this week to mobilize Latino men in battleground states.

Trump’s town hall with Univision was postponed to next week due to Hurricane Milton.

A ‘broken’ immigration system 

Harris heard from one audience member who said her mother died six weeks ago without being able to obtain legal status and could not get the medical care she needed.

The veep expressed her sympathy and pointed to the country’s “broken immigration system.”

“The reality is that in terms of having access to health care, had your mother been able to gain citizenship, she would have been entitled to health care that may have alleviated her suffering and yours,” she said.

Harris also mentioned her own mother and her immigration to the United States, saying: “I know what it is like to have a hardworking mother who loves you and to lose that, but I know that her spirit is alive.” Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, emigrated from India and was a cancer researcher.

During the town hall, Harris also repeated her vow she would, if elected, bring back and sign into law a major bipartisan border security bill, while blaming its legislative failure on Trump.

She also said she will “do the work of focusing on what we must do to have an orderly and humane pathway to earn citizenship for hardworking people.”

Harris was also asked about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that is currently under threat and designed to protect children — also known as Dreamers — who were brought into the country illegally from deportation.

“I just think it’s important that we recognize who this population of young people are and agree that they have been so productive, they are prepared to do what is necessary by law, and I think it should compel us to agree they should not have to live in fear, but should have an ability to be on a pathway to earn their citizenship,” she said.

“So, it is one of my priorities, and I’ve worked on this in terms of Dreamers for many, many years, and I’ll continue to fight for them.”

Health care, abortion access and the economy 

Harris said she firmly and deeply believes “access to health care is a right and should be a right, and not just a privilege of those who can afford it or have access to it easily” when asked how she plans to improve the health care system.

She also echoed her commitment to reproductive rights, saying if elected, she will “probably sign back into law the protections of Roe v. Wade, which basically just says it’s the person’s decision, not the government’s decision.”

Harris also touched on the broad Medicare plan she unveiled earlier this week that would strengthen the insurance program’s coverage to include long-term care for seniors in their homes.

The plan focuses on the “sandwich generation,” which refers to Americans who are raising their children while also caring for their aging parents.

Asked about how she would help the middle class, Harris highlighted her economic plan, including $6,000 in tax relief for new parents for the first year of their child’s life, as much as $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and an up to $50,000 tax break for first-time small businesses.

Trump in Aurora, Colorado 

Trump was set to appear at a rally Friday in Aurora, Colorado — which he falsely claims is overrun by Venezuelan gangs.

Last month, Trump pledged to carry out the “largest deportation in the history of our country” if elected — noting that Aurora would be one of the two places he’d start with.

The other, Trump said back in September, would be Springfield, Ohio — the center of false claims he’s made surrounding legal Haitian migrants.

Trump is set to hold several other rallies this weekend, including in: Reno, Nevada, later on Friday; Coachella, California, on Saturday; and Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Sunday.

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