After the Election: Combatting Attacks on Immigrants

Nov 7, 2024

Ahead of polls opening in the United States general election on Nov. 5, 2024, Republican Donald Trump made his final pitch to voters and continued to demonize immigrants in order to mobilize support. He described the U.S. as an 鈥�,鈥� referring to both undocumented people and those living in the U.S. with documents, and said he would 鈥渞escue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered.鈥�

Meanwhile, Elon Musk鈥攖he world鈥檚 richest man and ardent Trump backer鈥攈as been exposed as having . Musk has been using his social media platform, X, to spread anti-immigrant conspiracy theories.聽

In an interview recorded on Election Day, before the results were known, 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Silky Shah, executive director of and author of the recently published book . They discussed what immigrants鈥� rights activists can do to prepare for the future, no matter who ends up in the White House.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.