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Immigrant Elector Who Backed Cruz Says He'll Vote for Trump

Gage Skidmore
/
Flickr

A Mexican-American elector says he's sticking with his pledge to vote for Missouri's winning candidate, Donald Trump.

Hector Maldonado told The Associated Press he won't change his mind Monday in what's shaping up to be an unusually controversial Electoral College vote.

The child of a migrant worker, Maldonado moved to the U.S. at about age 5 and became a citizen in 1995.

The 44-year-old Army veteran who supported Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries said he has received many emails and letters pressuring him to vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The writers argue that Clinton won more votes nationwide than Trump or they claim Trump is racist.

But Maldonado said Trump is not racist for wanting to build a wall, which he says is needed for national security.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.