Chasing the Vote: How the Illegal-Immigration Debate Plays in Pennsylvania

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The Wall Street Journal

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🗓️ 3 November 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

The third-largest city in Pennsylvania, Allentown, now has a majority of Hispanic residents, a demographic shift that’s given fresh importance here to one of the big issues in the presidential election: immigration and securing the southern border. In the final stretch of the campaign, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have visited the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley, which is considered a key swing area in this battleground state. For our “Chasing the Vote” series, WSJ political reporter Jimmy Vielkind spoke with residents around the valley, including immigrants, to see how candidates’ talk about the border is driving voters and how the issue is playing a central role in the local Congressional race between Democrat Susan Wild and Republican Ryan Mackenzie. Plus, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain weighs in on how Democrats are framing the discussion about newly arrived workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Using my Berkeley Card Forward Credit Card to pay for the stuff I need now
0:03.2	could help build up my credit school for the day I need something bigger.
0:06.5	So buying a set of headphones, or waits for my workout, smashed it.
0:11.4	Could help in the future when I want to rent my first flat share.
0:15.4	Now that's forward thinking. Check if you're eligible at barclaycard.cote.
0:20.4	33.9% APR representative variables subject to application financial circumstances in borrowing history, T's and C's apply.
0:27.0	Responsible use of a credit card can help build your credit score when you pay on time. Most of the volunteers coming off the buses were Dominican Americans, and most of them lived in New York.
0:46.8	But on a Saturday morning this fall, they were about 90 miles west of Manhattan in Allentown,
0:53.3	the third largest city in Pennsylvania,
0:55.9	to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.
0:58.9	They grabbed breakfast sandwiches and donned t-shirts.
1:02.3	Some danced as speakers played merengue beats.
1:05.4	One woman laid out the stakes.
1:08.4	For a president's gentleman, get put in a cage and send back to your country because he
1:12.7	doesn't like us, right? Or you bow for Harris and stay here and keep the democracy going.
1:17.1	That's all. That is a choice. Okay?
1:20.0	A majority of Allentown's residents are now Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau,
1:24.8	a demographic shift that's given fresh importance here
1:27.9	to one of the big issues in the presidential election, immigration and securing the southern
1:32.6	border. There are many residents from the Dominican Republic and Central America, as well as Puerto
1:37.9	Rico, a U.S. territory. According to Diana Robinson, a leader in Pennsylvania of the advocacy group Make the Road Action,
1:46.2	many families here have a mix of people who are eligible to vote and others who aren't.
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