The U.S. Presidential election is less than three weeks away. Around the country, volunteers are mobilizing voters through get out the vote efforts in an election year unlike any other.
For undocumented immigrants, including those with DACA, mobilization looks a little different. The election has major stakes, but because of their immigration statuses, they won’t be able to cast ballots of their own.
“My livelihood is on the line, not just what could happen in the next four years but what could happen next month,” explains Elena, an undocumented college student. (A pseudonym is being used to protect her privacy given her immigration status.) “Will I be allowed to stay here? Will I be allowed to continue school? What will my family do?”
Those who spoke to Mashable didn’t endorse particular candidates, but noted the stark contrast between the immigration platforms of the two presidential candidates on major party tickets, and the impact those policies would have for DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump, for example, made ending DACA part of his pledge as a candidate in 2016. His administration’s attempt to end the program was invalidated by the Supreme Court in June, but the administration has since announced restrictions to the program, which are pending depending on legal challenges. The Trump administration also instituted a “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border that resulted in the separation of thousands of families.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has stated he will reinstate the DACA program, and called the immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration “a moral failing and a national shame,” while announcing his intention to undo them.
“There’s a stark difference between candidates, not just between parties,” Juan Escalante, an immigrant advocate and DACA recipient, says.
“We all know, as DACA recipients, what’s at stake,” Adrián Escárate, a DACA recipient, adds.
And that’s why some undocumented young people, including those with DACA, have been getting involved in the election in whatever ways they can.
Sometimes, that involves direct action: In July, United We Dream, a youth-led immigrant network, launched the Here to Stay Squad, a network of undocumented, DACA, or temporary protected status volunteers who reach out to voters. As of this week, Adrian Reyna, director of strategy for United We Dream Action PAC, which is behind the effort, says participants have reached out to 1.22 million voters in battleground states so far.
Clarissa Martínez-de-Castro, deputy vice president for policy and advocacy at UnidosUS, a national Latino civil rights organization, notes the engagement around the election is “nothing new” for immigrant youth, who are often the “the first ones to get involved in a variety of activities, whether that’s raising your voice in the legislator, in the streets, or opening the path to the voting booth.”
Indeed, 94.4 percent of DACA recipients reported planning to encourage friends and family to vote in the upcoming election, according to a survey published in October by the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego, the National Immigration Law Center, United We Dream, and the Center for American Progress. On top of that, 46.1 percent of DACA recipients reported becoming more politically active since receiving DACA.
In recent years, Martínez-de-Castro explains this activism has “intensified for a variety of reasons: the regretful state of debate on immigration, attacks on immigration, growing activism among youth, and more tools being available for people to take part in efforts to engage fellow community members. All of those things together are leading to greater efforts.”
Elena and Angelica Guzman, a DACA recipient, for instance, have been phone banking for the nonpartisan voter outreach efforts coordinated by United We Dream. (Escárate has phone banked for candidates, though cannot disclose them publicly because he works at a nonprofit.)
Guzman says the election matters to her because it’s an election “about democracy itself.” While phone banking, she wants to educate people on their rights as voters, such as the ins and outs of mail-in voting. “It’s about making community voices be heard, and letting people know they have rights,” Guzman says, noting that “[voting] education and resources have been diminished by this administration.”
“My livelihood is on the line”
In general, most phone banking efforts provide volunteers with a script, and that’s true of the work that Guzman, Escárate, and Elena have done. Still, their firsthand experience with the U.S. immigration system makes their stories particularly essential to reluctant voters, who might not realize how much is at stake for immigrant communities, Guzman and Elena note. Sharing their experience on calls sometimes makes sense.
“[Some voters] are not realizing there are families being affected by every little decision being made. Every election matters, but the way these last four years have been going, there are a lot of people’s lives on the line,” Elena says. “That’s something people aren’t realizing. All of these issues are about people’s lives.”
As such, Guzman notes she sometimes brings up her own immigration status. “There are people who say, ‘Well, my vote doesn’t matter,'”Guzman says. When she encounters people with this mentality, she explains that as someone who can’t vote herself, their vote matters to her. She then explains her DACA status, and talks about how the election could impact her own life. After those conversations, Guzman notes most people have follow-up questions about voting logistics in their area. “Even if we, as DACA recipients or undocumented people, can’t vote, we have to help those who can,” Guzman says.
SEE ALSO: Youth activists share how people too young to vote can participate in the election
Elena, Guzman, and Escárate are also doing work on a personal scale in other ways, too. Guzman notes that some undocumented immigrants might live in mixed-status families, in which family members have different citizenship or immigration statuses.
Escárate’s mother and father became U.S. citizens in 2020 and 2019, respectively, and he helped them register to vote. They both voted in Florida’s primary this year. Now, he’s helping them navigate the entire voting process again, from verifying their ballot drop box location to ensuring they use the right pen when voting.
Though Elena says most of her family members are also undocumented, they do have friends who are documented. She tries to provide that group with accurate voting information. Beyond that, Elena notes that misinformation about politics can often run rampant on group chats shared among her older family members, so she tries to speak up to counter this misinformation. She’s also been reaching out to friends if they share inaccurate information about voting and the election on their social media accounts.
SEE ALSO: How to combat voter suppression before, during, and after voting
Countering misinformation about voting is a crucial role for DACA recipients, undocumented immigrants, and other people intimately involved with immigrant communities this election, Escalante, points out.
He notes it’s “increasingly apparent” that particular communities, such as Latino communities in Florida, have become targets for “erroneous information or outright lies” with respect to the election, including inaccurate information about voting and the candidates. That’s why he wants to make it clear that you can’t necessarily “believe things friends or cousins forward via WhatsApp chain.”
Escalante, who has a considerable social media presence as a result of his advocacy work, has been mobilizing and informing voters through his social media accounts, and clarifying misinformation along the way. On social media, for example, he shares accurate, reputable voting information, and on a personal scale, he often asks family members to “cite their sources” when they share inaccurate information with him. “You basically see their argument fall flat,” Escalante notes.
He wants other undocumented immigrants and those with DACA to use whatever mediums they have, whether that’s social media or something else, to make sure people who are registered to vote have accurate election information.
No matter the mobilization method they’re using, more than anything Escalante, Guzman, Elena, and Escárate want people to understand the dire consequences of the election for immigrant communities and to vote with inclusivity and empathy in mind.
“It’s people’s lives at stake. People don’t think politics affects them but even those who happen to have more privilege, there’s something that could affect them through a friend, through a child’s friend,” Elena says. “It’s really about all of us.”read more
Undocumented immigrants can’t vote, but they’re still mobilizing others
