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This summer social media and news outlets were buzzing with news about one shocking Republican presidential front-runner. A man who is well known for his temper, money, toupee and his famous line, “You’re fired!” Donald J. Trump.

For decades Trump has been making certain gestures that suggested he would run for president. According to the Huff Post’s Lisa Capretto, in 1988 Trump was interviewed by Oprah, who asked Trump if he would ever run for presidency. Trump replied by saying “Probably not” and he then went on to say “I think I’d win, I’ll tell you what: I wouldn’t go in to lose.”

It was not until June 2015 that the nation saw Trump confirm his campaign for presidency. During the first couple of months Trump stirred up quite a debate. Was a celebrity the right choice to be a president? Is a businessman what the U.S. needs right now? Republicans, and a few Democrats, favored Trump and how he is not afraid to speak his mind.

The majority had accepted the fact that a celebrity was running, until Trump dropped the ‘I’ word.

Immigrants.

In his June presidential speech announcement, Trump said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you…They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

After this harsh accusation, many people were in shock, while his supporters applauded him. Breitbart News Network wrote an article titled, “The 10 most important reasons Trump would make a great president.” The article listed 10 facts including “Trump ‘built that business’ and will run America like a business.” Another reason, well, “Trump is tough, unafraid to flex America’s muscles, and has the backbone America needs to take on the evil growing around the world.”

There are still certain people who cannot agree with Trump and his opinions. For months Trump has had support from Republicans. By July, Trump already had 20 percent of Republicans supporting him according to Jennifer Agiesta, CNN poll director. However, some people still do not believe that Trump should be president, or even run for president for that matter. In the same poll 37 percent of Republicans, and a majority of women, said they “would never vote for Trump.”

Alejandro Luna, Div. 664, comes from a family of Democrats, and like many students, he was hit directly by the harsh words Trump had to say about Mexicans. “Everybody knows his famous line that ‘Mexicans don’t bring their best people’ and ‘They bring the criminals and other stuff’– I mean for me there’s my parents. They’re not criminals, they’re just hard working people that pay their taxes.”

Many Hispanic families were in shock about Trump’s views on Mexican immigrants.

Other non-Hispanic families were just as in shock. Trump has said multiple things about Mexican immigrants, but he plans to get rid of all 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants no matter if they are Mexican or not. According to Forbes contributor, Dalia Esteves, stated that in a teleconference with Alabama Republicans Trump said it “would take 18 months to two years to get the estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. to leave the country.” This would affect a large amount of families in the U.S. and even here at Lane.

Fhebi Ballagan, Div. 652, is of Filipino descent and can understand firsthand what Mexican immigrants are feeling. Ballagan came to the United States in 2001 and for the majority of her life she has lived in the U.S. Ballagan’s family does not consider themselves Democrats or Republicans, but that still does not affect her views on Trump. “The fact that he decided to run in the first place is actually terrifying and the fact that people are either agreeing with his viewpoints, or kind of voting for him as a joke, is also extremely terrifying,” said Ballagan.
Like many Hispanic families, Luna’s family does not see eye to eye with Trump. “Most of my relatives that are here in America don’t really like him. It’s just terrible, it really is.”

Trump wants to send all undocumented immigrants and their children, even if they were born in the U.S., back to their native countries, referring to these children as “anchor babies.” In Trump’s immigration reform he states, “End birthright citizenship: This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it is the wrong policy,” which means Trump wants to revoke the citizenship of the children of illegal immigrants.

Trump’s decision to send all undocumented immigrants and their children back to where they fled from will damage many lives, according to Luna, who said he “would be sent to Mexico because I’m a child of immigrants as well. Meaning they’re just taking my future away out of my hands.”

Trump’s presidential slogan is “Make America Great Again” and 30 percent of people believe Trump is the exact thing America needs. “Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to top 30 percent support,” according to a CNN poll.

While Trump might be in the lead for the Republicans, others are still in disbelief that he will win.

“I feel like this is the decline of America really,” said Luna, “I mean, he’s basically trying to make America great again but what does he mean by that? He doesn’t say anything specifically besides getting rid of Mexicans.”

He felt that Trump’s opinions were horrific and his way of thinking is “upside down,” Luna said. The people that support Trump are viewed with sympathy from Ballagan and Luna..

“I’m not mad that they’re supporting him, the thing is, it just really tells a lot about them, where there views are at, and it just really proves that even though the civil war has been fought, racism still exists today and it’s still a problem that America faces in general,” Luna said.

Ballagan said, “I don’t think I hate them. They just probably don’t look up many things about Donald Trump. If they do keep up with politics, then they’re following the wrong person.”

As for now Ballagan and Luna agree that the one candidate that has their vote is Bernie Sanders, an older Democrat with opinions that “excites students and young people because he is a candidate of values, principles and ideas,” according to Brian Budowsky, a reporter for the The Hill.

Even though people support Trump, Luna and Ballagan both agree that Trump is not right for the title of President of the United States. Ballagan believes that Trump will “not help America, not even remotely.”

If Trump does win presidency, what will happen? Ballagan knows exactly what she will do if Trump is announced president in November 2016: “If Donald Trump becomes president then I am moving to Canada.”