MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Here's Donald Trump, the once and now future president of the United States.
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DONALD TRUMP: Every single day, I will be fighting for you. And with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America. That's what we have to have.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
That's the president-elect speaking last night to supporters in Florida. One of his leading issues - maybe the leading issue - was immigration. He's been promising mass deportations and tougher border security.
MARTIN: NPR immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd traveled throughout New York City and found these campaign promises have a strong appeal, even among some immigrants.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Jackson Heights, in Queens, New York, is a neighborhood that is synonymous with its diverse immigrant communities, like this Bangladeshi block, where election results are being broadcast on a giant outdoor screen. Amin Khan (ph) is watching the broadcast and sipping some tea. He's in the country legally. He cannot vote. But he says, if he could have voted, it would have been for Trump.
AMIN KHAN: For me, I'm also immigrant, but I came in a legal way. But those people who doesn't have any papers and, you know, is crossing the border, we need to take them out from this country.
GARSD: Some in this crowd silently disagree. Standing at the doorway to his clothing store, Mitu Ahmed (ph) invites us into a world of gorgeous fabrics and jewelry. He won't tell NPR who he voted for because he says this community is way too divided on the issue. But he does say he lost a lot of business during the pandemic, and it was immigrants who brought it back. And without them, the economy would suffer.
MITU AHMED: Who come to our store? The immigrant.
GARSD: Elon Musk, he jokes, is not buying my stuff.
AHMED: (Laughter) He's not going to come here.
GARSD: A few blocks up, at the Latin music bar Terraza 7, Freddy Castiblanco watches the election on a big screen - nervously. He's the owner of this spot, and he says a lot of the Latino immigrants around here, who've been here for decades, support Trump.
FREDDY CASTIBLANCO: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: They tell him that they're outraged. They've been waiting for years, decades, for a path to legalization. Why, they say, should these newer migrants get any assistance?
PREETA ROSARIO: I'm very disgusted and very sad and heartbroken. These people are immigrants themselves.
GARSD: Preeta Rosario (ph) is originally from Bangladesh. She voted today as a U.S. citizen for Kamala Harris. As she tells us this, a woman walks by.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: "Stupid communist," she yells in Spanish, then disappears into the dark streets of this very divided neighborhood.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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