Democratic presidential candidates tried to woo the nation’s Hispanic community on Sunday, promising to begin working on immigration in their first year of office.
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(Photo: AP / Alan Diaz)Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton,D-NY, speaks during a Democratic primary debate hosted by Univision at the Bank Atlantic Center in Coral Gables, Fla. Sunday Sept. 9, 2007. The debate focused on issues that are of interest to the Hispanic community.
In the first ever Spanish-language presidential debate, Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, the anchors of the nation’s largest Spanish-language network, Univision, posed questions in Spanish and the candidates had earpieces to hear simultaneous translations into English. The candidates' responses were simultaneously translated into Spanish for broadcast.
Not surprisingly, both Ramos and Salinas, who vocally support a path to legalization for the nation's estimated 12 million immigrants, framed their questions with the basic assumption that immigrants, including those in the country illegally, face discrimination and have been unfairly demonized – a view not universally shared in the English-language media.
All seven candidates said they would work on changing immigration laws during their first year in the White House.
"We all know that this has become a contentious political issue," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) said. "It is being demagogued, and I believe that it is being used to bash immigrants, and that must stop. The Republican candidates need to understand that they are doing a great disservice to our country."
Clinton, who leads national polls of Latino voters by a wide margin, criticized the immigration bill proposed in the last Republican-dominated Congress. That legislation, which she called “particularly egregious,” would have penalized those who help illegal immigrants.
"I said it would have criminalized the good Samaritan. It would have criminalized Jesus Christ," she said.
When the candidates were asked why they supported a wall along the Mexican border and not a similar fence along the U.S.-Canadian border, most avoided answering directly, appearing to have been caught somewhat off-guard by the question.
Salinas and Ramos called specifically on Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.), and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) to account for their votes to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. All three, in response, noted their support for broader rights for both legal and illegal Latino immigrants but also said tighter border security is important, stating simply that they believed security was a key part of comprehensive immigration reform.
"That has to be part of comprehensive immigration reform," Clinton said.
"I do favor more security on the border and in some cases a physical border because that has to be part of securing our borders," she added.
With many of the leading Republican presidential candidates opposed to President Bush's immigration policy – that some have labeled "amnesty" because it would create a citizenship path for some illegal immigrants – Democrats are seeing an opportunity to peel off Latino voters in 2008.
Very recently, prominent Latino evangelical leaders expressed their disappointment at Republican lawmakers’ lack of support for the recent immigration reform bill, leading experts to predict that the GOP presidential hopefuls may have lost their Latino evangelical voters base.
Republican senators were held responsible for derailing this summer’s comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform bill as three-quarters of the Senate’s Republicans voted to kill the bill, which fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and move toward final passage of the legislation.
“They completely abandoned us,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, according to The Dallas Morning Continue >>
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It's more like "Dems Ultimately Boo Hispanic Americans."
Huckabee Huckabee Huckabee 4 Prez!!!
Amen Star2light. I'm not a Bush fan, but the Dem's won't get my vote. Probably not the Reps either. Unless one of the "no chance" candidates is put forth.
80% of the American people want an end to anarchy!
Illegal workers are criminals, those who hire them are criminals and those who aid-and-abet them are criminals.
Illegal aliens in America have NO rights. We are required to arrest and prosecute, deport them.
No, matter your political party affiliation, and setting aside your thoughts on issues. We all need to remember what it is to be an American Citizen. We need to make sure our elected representatives obey their Oath of Office and keep their Oath of Allegiance.
See http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl Know whom you are voting for.
“When the candidates were asked why they supported a wall along the Mexican border and not a similar fence along the U.S.-Canadian border, most avoided answering directly, appearing to have been caught somewhat off-guard by the question.”
This gives you an idea of the future incompetence that will lead the country after bushie. The reality is millions of people crash our southern, not northern, border, and any candidate with any measurable concern for this country would hardly be caught off guard on a question like this.
These are candidates bought and paid for by the special interests that overthrew our government years ago. Its to be expected that they will be indifferent to America and the laws which govern it.