Illegal Alien Door Knockers for Hillary

Ismael Valadez, a 19-year-old who entered the U.S. as a child, is ineligible to vote himself. He’s in America illegally.

But he does not let that fact deter him from participating in the nonprofit Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition’s (TIRRC) outreach program, which will send canvassers to more than 1,500 homes and encourages newly registered voters to vote. And the concerns Valadez cares deeply about include the possibility that he, too, may one day vote — even as a non-citizen.

“I hope to make that a reality at some point,” Valadez said. “I feel like a lot of people I know are really passionate and fired up about this election.”

“I hope to make that a reality at some point,” Valadez told The Tennessean. “I feel like a lot of people I know are really passionate and fired up about this election.”

Indeed, the stakes could not be higher in the presidential race between presumptive nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Both candidates have vastly differing views on a host of policy issues affecting Americans and immigrants alike. But Clinton has been ingratiating herself to illegal aliens and targeting registered Latino voters, in particular, as she promises to introduce “comprehensive immigration reform,” expand health care to illegals, and expedite naturalization. So Trump’s no-nonsense approach to securing the U.S. border — building a wall and enforcing existing U.S. laws — does not sit well with illegals and many new immigrant voters.

The two presumptive nominees find themselves in the midst of an evolving electorate. The U.S. electorate for the 2016 presidential election will be the most ethnically diverse the country has ever seen, according to the Pew Research Center. Almost one in three eligible voters (31 percent) will be Hispanic, black, Asian, or another racial minority, which is up from the 29 percent from the 2012 election. Pew also estimated that this percentage rise is largely due to the steady growth of U.S.-born Hispanic voters.

The expected voter turnout this election year is estimated to far exceed the turnout of recent presidential elections. In 2008, when President Obama ran as the first black candidate for a major party, 131.4 million people (56.9 percent of the estimated eligible population) voted, according to Pew. In 2012, roughly 53.6 percent of the voting-aged eligible population cast their votes in the presidential election with 129.1 million votes. As the Republican and Democratic primary election turnouts rebound in 2016 after a decline in 2012 from a record-setting 2008, the changing dynamics of the electorate could have a significant effect on the election.

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Trump and Clinton will be battling for the key swing states, including Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and no presidential candidate has won the general election without at least two of those three states since 1960, Politico reported. With the shifting electorate dynamics, Trump’s standing with Latino voters and new voters may matter considerably.

A new NBC News/The Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll released on July 17 showed that Trump trailed Clinton considerably with Latino voters, at 14 percent to 76 percent. In addition, roughly 82 percent of Latino voters said they have an unfavorable view of Trump. The Republican Party has also been seeing a sloping decrease in Latino voter support with 40 percent in 2004, 31 percent in 2008, and 27 percent in 2012.

These troubling statistics make the actions of immigrants like Valadez significant, especially when coupled with organizations like TIRRC — “a statewide immigrant- and refugee-led collaboration whose mission is to empower immigrants and refugees throughout Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights,” according to its website.

Trump had better beware.