When asked about the ramifications of potential executive action on immigration, incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) suggested such action by President Barack Obama would "poison the well". McConnell need no longer concern himself with that eventuality, given a recent tweet by Univision's Jorge Ramos.
It'll be difficult for Republicans to reject executive action on immigration and not to be seen as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino.
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) November 16, 2014
Univision and its Sunday national public affairs show, "Al Punto", are known for setting the tone for left-of-center coverage of immigration news, and have often engaged in the practice of smearing border security advocates as "anti-immigrant" or "anti-Latino". In practice, the network’s extensive use of the "anti-immigrant" pejorative during its coverage of the debate over Arizona's immigration reform legislation (SB-1070) obliterated any distinction between legal and illegal immigration, conflating both under more general “immigrant” terminology. Use of the poisonous term has since also spiked within the English-language political lexicon and media stylebooks.
Perhaps this was to be expected from a network whose idea of balanced immigration coverage is to pit fierce progressive advocates against moderate comprehensivist Republicans followed by amnesty advocates who think neither side is doing enough, and to smear anyone with a differing view as a hater. But such bias not only betrays the trust for which Mr. Ramos expresses gratitude at the close of many of his broadcasts, but stifles much-needed debate on a matter of national security, and poisons the national political discourse.
