Donald Trump's Immigration Policies Will Not Incite American Bosnians To Vote Pro-Trump
I came across two articles this weekend that dealt with immigration as an issue in the current U.S. presidential campaign. The first article written by The New York Time “Explaining What Donald Trump Wants to Do Now on Immigration” was published on September 1st 2016, discusses how Donald Trumps' immigration policy is changing to be more like the one led by president Obama. In the second article published by The Guardian on September 6th 2016 talks about the Bosnian population within Missouri possibly deciding which presidential candidate could win that state. Donald Trump will never win the Bosnian American vote if he focuses his campaign on hate speech and strict immigration policies.
The presidential nominee Donald Trump has modified his plan on immigration. The New York Times wrote an article describing the modification of his immigration plan which now consists of deporting two million illegal immigrants who have had a criminal record, building a wall across the Southern border, and 'sanctioning' countries and cities who do not comply with his policies. Donald Trumps' original plan was the polar opposite of Obama's by deporting all illegal immigrants no matter of their criminal history and isolating the United States by closing the borders. The article points out that Donald Trump is in fact following current immigration policies set by President Obama. Changing the plans for future immigration policies could be his way of appealing to a broader voting population.
As a Bosnian American I find Donald Trump's immigration stance appalling which is better described by the recent article published by Guardian on September 6th 2016, 'How Missouri's 'Bosnian vote' could cost Donald Trump – and turn the state blue. The article talks about a small group of muslim naturalized Americans who came as refugees two decades ago that will help decide the presidential race in the swing state of Missouri. Thousands of Yugoslavians fled the violence during 1990's and settled in Mid-Western cities of Chicago and St. Louis. The article states there are between 50,000 – 75,000 ethnic Bosnians in Missouri. American Bosnians make up a powerful voting block of pro immigrant, pro Muslim supporters in a state where Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump are tied in a voting polls. Until recently Bosnian Americans were politically silent but that has since changed in recent years. A brutal death of a young Bosnian man on the streets of Saint Louis sparked protests and calls for action from the Bosnian community. Local politicians have catered to Bosnians by visiting their religious institutions and printing political literature in Bosnian. Nationalistic extremists in the former Yugoslavian countries have taken Trump's rhetoric “Make America Great Again” and applied it to their country “Make Serbia Great Again” to blame minority populations for their countries problems. Donald Trump's controversial speeches and policies are being passed onto countries that have historical religious tensions and could be used to incite future violence.
Donald Trump is currently losing in the presidential election polls to Hilary Clinton - his chief rival. He is modifying his immigration policies to appeal to a broader general population for more votes. Mr. Trump has been lessening the coercive stands towards illegal immigration within the United States since the beginning of his campaign. Donald Trump indicated his will of deporting every single illegal immigrant within our borders regardless of their criminal history. Mr. Trump now says he would deport only illegal immigrants that threaten national security. Even with more moderate views on immigration Donald Trump would not appeal to Muslim Americans due to his discrimination against many minority groups. To win the the electoral vote in Missouri Donald Trump must win the hearts of the Bosnian diaspora with other issues such as job creation or ending the conflicts in the Middle East where Bosnians have a soft heart for ending the violence in bloodshed.