As Kamala's popularity soars, Trump raises the heat on immigrants

As Vice-President Kamala Harris edges past in opinion polls, former US president Donald Trump has unleashed a war on immigrants but avoided any reference to the influential American Indian community.

Although Trump’s aggression to the point of what critics say are downright false narratives is now specifically targeted at Haitians, his anti-immigrant platform endorsed by the Make America Great Again (MAGA) is worrying all the immigrants.

Not everyone in the grand old Republican party endorses Trump but he is in no mood to slow down ever since Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in India and father in Jamaica, began to overtake him in popularity ratings since incumbent president Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

Trump ups the racist ante

Trump is now accusing the Democrats of registering “tens of thousands” of illegal voters – immigrants – and called for a ban on voting non-citizens. Non-Americans are anyway not allowed to vote in the United States.

“Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak – They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to. Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any election!” Trump posted on social media this week.

Critics have accused him of stoking fears with a view to consolidating the rural and white Americans who form his core support base.

According to the Pew Research Centre, Indians make up the third largest population of illegal immigrants in the US. The figure is estimated to be around 725,000.

At the same, Indian Americans total nearly 5 million and are one of the most influential immigrant groups in the country. Although many of them support the Democrats, the Republicans also enjoy backing within the Indian community.

But Trump recently tried to draw attention to Kamala Harris’ Indian roots as opposed to her Black identity, only to back down after it triggered a storm of protests across the US. In the last election, however, Trump went full blast and made fun of Kamala Harris’ first name – a popular Indian feminine name.

About one in 10 voters is a foreign-born immigrant who has become a naturalised citizen and is therefore eligible to vote. Some in the Trump camp insist that even naturalised citizens should not vote.

For now, however, Trump is focussing on men and women who have poured into the US legally from Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, driven out due to both economic deprivation and violence.

Now, Haitians in the US town of Springfield are battling death threats and more after Trump accused them of eating -- a charge widely believed to be false – the pets of local residents.

Haitian residents in Springfield have reported receiving severe threats besides facing harassment although they have entered the country legally, the Haitian Times reported.

Springfield has become a focal point in the presidential campaign over immigration after Trump alleged during last week’s debate with Kamala Harris that Haitian immigrants were eating pets.

Springfield’s Republican Mayor Rob Rue has repeatedly said there was no evidence of Trump’s charges and that the rumours being floated were simply not true.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in," he said. "They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

According to Trump, Springfield was “a little, beautiful town” with no crime till 32,000 immigrants poured in. Springfield officials say the figure is fiction.

On Friday, Trump vowed to deport people on a large scale from Springfield. “We’re gonna get these people out. We’re bringing them back to Venezuela,” he said, naming a wrong country.

Haiti is one of 16 countries the US has granted temporary protective status because of the ongoing conflict, making it easier for immigrants to get authorization to work in the United States.