‘I never felt more American than I did casting my first vote for president’

I grew up in Ireland, I have lived in the US for 16 years and I carry both passports. I am Irish, I am American and there is a third strand to my identity, I am immigrant.

I never felt more American than I did this week as I cast my first vote in a US presidential election. I also felt my immigrant status very strongly as I cast my vote against an the man who is unfortunately representing one of the major parties in this election.

I have followed the race closely and have always been confident that Donald Trump would not win this election. I have taken the position that Trump cannot win; demographics are totally against him.

On election day, with the opinion polls neck and neck, I have started to contemplate the unthinkable. I still think it is highly unlikely that he will win, but the fact that it is close makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Trump is a classic bully. He demonises the “other”, women, minorities, immigrants. Most of his anti-immigrant sentiment has been directed towards Mexicans and Muslims, which I fear has generated a false sense of security amongst Irish immigrants drawn to support Trump. “He doesn’t mean us, he means those other guys.”

This is not only a morally indefensible position to take, it is also naïve in the extreme. How many Irish people are amongst the 11 million he has promised to deport using his “deportation force”?

Our collective memory is short if we are to throw our lot in with him. We were those hated immigrants not long ago. There are still many of our country men and women victimised by the lack of a functioning immigration system in the US.

Leaving aside his ruinous economic policies and his catastrophic foreign policy, I didn’t need to look past his attitude to immigrants to understand that it was my duty to cast a vote against him and I was very happy to do so.

Trump does not represent the America I know and love, a country and a people that welcomed me and my family with open arms. I hope that this positive and optimistic America shows up at polling booths throughout the country today and rejects Trump’s hate-filled agenda.