BROOKLINE, N.H.—People in New Hampshire live nearly 2,400 miles from El Paso, Texas, one of the busiest crossings on America’s Southern border. And it’s only home to about 10,000 people living illegally in the U.S. — a far cry from states like California, Texas or Florida.
Yet, illegal immigration is a paramount concern to New Hampshire voters, and Republican presidential candidates are being faced with tough questions from voters in this small, mostly white, state on how they will handle the issue if elected.
While GOP front-runner Donald Trump has called for a wall across the Southern border, many voters in this early voting state are searching for more in-depth solutions to the country’s immigration shortfalls. They characterize their concerns with illegal immigration as a case of fundamental fairness combined with national security or economic concerns.
Of the 1.3 million people living in New Hampshire, roughly 94 percent of them are white, according to 2014 census data. Just 3.3 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic or Latino, compared to 17 percent nationwide, while about 5 percent is foreign-born, compared to 13 percent nationally. New Hampshire voters will head to the polls Feb. 9 for the country’s second primary season contest.
But Bob Belanger, a voter from Brookline who recently challenged Marco Rubio on the subject during a campaign stop, said immigration concerns among New Hampshire residents do not equate to xenophobia.
“People tend to think that we are anti-immigrant, but we’re not,” he said. “We are all immigrants, for crying out loud. We just want to know who’s coming in the front door of our country. That’s all.”
Belanger, 57, said he’s proud of his immigrant family’s heritage. He carries around his grandfather’s green card. His grandfather was Canadian; his grandmother was originally from Ireland. He works for a New Hampshire-based manufacturing firm that builds piping for companies all over the region and the world, and says immigration personally affects him from an economic perspective.
He believes those working here illegally drive down wages and benefits.
“Whether it’s roofers or whether it’s welders, it affects me even when they are in Texas or California,” he said. “We are in a global economy.”
Belanger, like many voters here, said he’s looking for a more substantial solution than building a wall and deporting everyone who lives here illegally, as Trump proposes.
