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Caribbean migrants wary of Trump victory

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All eyes are on the results of the United States presidential election today as T&T and the Caribbean monitor the outcome of what has been a keenly fought election which has been characterised by mud-slinging and rhetoric quite unlike any other US campaign.

The candidates are Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

President of the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T (AMCHAM) Nirad Tewarie said while the organisation is not political and does not get involved in politics he felt that “the rhetoric that has characterised the campaign has not been good for democracy anywhere.”

Tewarie said, “Trump’s policy on immigration has a lot of people from the Caribbean diaspora including Trinidad and Tobago very concerned.” 

Head of the Political Sciences Unit at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, Dr Bishnu Ragoonath agreed. 

He told the T&T Guardian there is a genuine concern among the immigrant community. 

“People are concerned about what will be Trump’s position on immigration. They want to know how he will treat with illegal immigrants from the Caribbean.” 

Statistics from the Clinton camp indicate that Caribbean immigrants make up approximately 3.2 per cent of the illegal immigrants in the US.

Trinidadians living in the US told the T&T Guardian that they are swayed to the democratic camp because “if Trump wins we will have to pack up and come back home.”

One such resident, Christine, said she left on Monday to return to New York where she has been living for more than a decade to cast her ballot. She said, “If Trump wins immigrants have no future in the United States. He has not shown any inclination to be sympathetic to us.” 

Another Trinidadian, Elsa, said, “Trump has been like a raging bull in a china shop on the issue of immigrants and we are scared that if he is elected we may be shipped back home.”

Trump has made it clear throughout his campaign that he intends to send illegal immigrants back home. Many of these immigrants, according to Elsa, have built their lives in the United States, although they have been working illegally. She said, “Many of these people send money back to help their families in Trinidad. They are like the breadwinners except they are living and working illegally.”

In a television interview Trump had called for the deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants. Deportees have been blamed for involvement in this country’s rising crime rate. 

“Clinton has indicated that she is not likely to follow the crime and justice policies that her husband followed in relation to the deportee issue; that would be a good thing,” Tewarie said.

Ragoonath said there is also concern that if Trump wins the election “whether or not he would implement a proposal to limit visas to people who may have Islamic names.” That,according to Ragoonath, is important “for many people in Trinidad and Tobago and the region.”

In a speech delivered in Arizona, Trump called on the US government to tighten its screening of visa applicants, including requiring them to obtain an “ideological certification” to ensure “we are admitting to our country (those who) share our values and love our people.”

Ragoonath said while Trump has indicated that he intends to “take the fight to Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), whether that is possible we wait to see. On the other hand there is the concern that Hillary Clinton’s positions may not be harsh enough to deal with terrorist threats.”

Of Clinton though, Ragoonath said, “There will be a continuation of the policies of the Obama regime, people will feel a lot safer. They see Hillary as the lesser of the two evils, but we have to wait and see what the outcome of the election will be.”

On the issue of trade, Tewarie said, “Both candidates have indicated a withdrawal of American leadership for expanded international trade, so that is a concern.”

But he said, “Trump’s position which is essentially isolationist is particularly troubling.”

Ragoonath felt that Trump would have “to continue a lot of policies in place and will have to do so until he gets a fair grip on the economy. We don’t know if there will be changes in tariffs and goods entering the United States. But in any event Trinidad and Tobago is not a huge exporter to the US.”

TRADE MATTERS

The United States is this country’s largest trading partner and the T&T currency is pegged to the US dollar. Trump has indicated that he will levy tax penalties on US manufacturers who have manufacturing operations offshore. There is concern as to whether his policies would affect investments by US manufacturers in the Caribbean.

In June this year the US House of Representatives passed the Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act 2016 which is aimed at increasing engagement with the governments of the Caribbean region, the Caribbean diaspora in the US, and the private sector and civil society in the US and the Caribbean.

The bill was sponsored by Representative Eliot L. Engel, ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs who argued that the US “should be working to strengthen our ties with countries in the Caribbean. That’s the aim of this bill, which would prioritise US-Caribbean relations for years to come.” 

The bill among other things outlined an approach to partner with Caribbean governments to improve citizen security, reduce illicit drug trafficking, strengthen the rule of law, and improve the effectiveness of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.

It also aims to assist Caribbean countries in diversifying their economies, reducing free trade and investment barriers, and supporting the training and employment of persons in marginalized communities.

The bill still has to be passed by the US Senate. Tewarie said he is hoping that “whoever wins the White House will work with Congress to advance the Caribbean agenda.”

If the legislation is not passed by the Senate by January, Tewarie said, “The Congress will need to get a new bill.” Whatever happens, he said, “it would be for the Caribbean to advance what it wants.”

STATS:

A 2015 survey conducted in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, all states with large Caribbean-American communities, indicated that 82 per cent were registered democrats. 

TRINI ON CLINTON CAMPAIGN TEAM

Trinidadian Neisha Blandin is Clinton’s National Deputy Women’s Vote Director at Hillary for America. She has been with the campaign since last July functioning as the deputy director of Grassroots Engagement.


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