22 Times The 2016 Presidential Election Was A Dumpster Fire

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10. “Bad Hombres”

From the very beginning, Trump’s campaign has anti-immigration rhetoric to garner support. In particular this has been directed at Latinos. Specifically, people of Mexican heritage have been portrayed as criminals who sneak into America to sell drugs and commit violence. One of his major talking points has been building a border wall. But even Trump’s campaign manager was surprised to hear him refer to the immigrants he intends to deport as “bad hombres” during the third presidential debate.

Using Spanish is an unveiled attempt to people of Mexican heritage. If his policies were directly unilaterally, he would’ve simply said, “men” or if he was being broader, “people.” But once again, he isolates minority communities and frames them as criminal in a system which already disadvantages them. Even if the problem were solely about the Mexico border, it’s unfair to paint undocumented immigrants as though they’re trying to hurt people. More often, they’re just trying to survive.

Policy aside, if you addressing problems within any group, you cannot forget their humanities. But by hiding behind nicknames and euphemisms, Trump distances himself from the people he’s hurting. But those views hurt people whether he sees it or not. Whatever the outcome of this election, his campaign will have harmed people of colour simply through the words he put in the American minds.