Mexican workers in the US who lack the national platform that presidential candidate Donald Trump enjoys are using YouTube to upload their own tirades against the Republican in response to his rant about them.
In the unlikely case you haven’t heard it yet (video), he said: “They’re bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
“I pay my taxes, just as he does.”
Enrique Casarrubias, who came to the US 28 years ago, wants Trump to know that he had to work hard picking tomatoes in the fields for more than 10 years before he could start his own business: a small taco joint.
“I pay my taxes, just as he does,” he said in Spanish. ”We are people who have contributed many things to this country. He also depends on us, because Mexican, Hispanic and Latino people work for him. He should not dare to insult us again.”
“Look, bastard, how we ‘rape’ these wooden stakes”
In another video, an unidentified construction worker who appears to be pounding wooden stakes into a building foundation, says to the camera: “That son of a bitch says we are thieves; look, bastard, how we ‘rape’ these wooden stakes.”
“I make $1,100 per week and the government takes $350,” he goes on. “Here these guys are working themselves to death at 107°F. What rapists? And what criminals?”
“Do you really see me as a drug lord, rapist, criminal?”
In Los Angeles, a man named Sergio Mejía staged a stunt that he called “Meet an Immigrant (Donald Trump Experiment).” Blindfolded, handcuffed, and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, the video shows Mejía hanging out next to a sign that says “Do you really see me as a druglord, rapist, criminal?”
The video, which has more than 1.5 million views, shows people approaching him to shake his hand, greet him, or express support.
“See, society has labeled us, immigrants from all over, as this—a jumpsuit, handcuffs, legcuffs,” he explains. “They label us as criminals, people who come here to take jobs, to steal jobs; people who come here to take places in schools. America just has to remove this blindfold, and just see that’s not who we are.”
“I honestly feel pity for you”
From Mexico, Alejandra Arias Molina, who lived in Kansas city for two years, points out the contribution of Mexican workers to the US economy, and she tells Trump that she feels pity for him: ”With all the millions you own, I am pretty sure you’re just a very frustrated and sad person.”
She also warns the Republican candidate about generalizations: ”It’s equal as if we Mexicans generalized US citizens as serial killers, you know, just because a crazy went to school and started killing kids,” she said.
“Or it would be the same as if we generalized US people as racist assholes—just because of you.”