It is no secret that high levels of immigration are crucial to the long-term survival of Univision. Accordingly, the network’s position requires the scuttling of potential compromises that could potentially constitute less than “the whole enchilada” when it comes to securing a massive amnesty for millions of people currently unlawfully present in the country. The current battle over the future of DACA is indicative of the approach of America's leading Spanish-language media platform.
Watch as outgoing Chicagoland Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (who once compared convicted FALN terrorist Oscar López Rivera to George Washington) flippantly refuses so much as to consider a Republican Senate compromise that preserves DACA for three years in exchange for increased border security (among other things):
CLAUDIA UCEDA, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: A group of Republican senators filed a bill that seeks to extend DACA for three years, and increase border security, among other things - which Democrats do not support.
REP. LUIS GUTIÉRREZ: Don't even think about it. Nor is it something that should...we're not going to waste time discussing it (the Republican DACA compromise bill), and...because there's nothing there.
The intended young beneficiaries of the Republican legislation seem to be left out in the cold as actual reform takes a back seat to the politics and political posturing of reform. More than anything, Gutiérrez is laying a foundation upon which blame for a failed immigration bill can fall upon the GOP. However, it is clear that any blame for a failed DACA fix should fall on the amnesty lobby that accepts no compromise, the Democrats that appease them, and the network whose survival depends on the preservation of an immigration system that remains broken.
Univision must be singled out for its particular role in poisoning the well when it comes to immigration reform. On the one hand, the network broadcasts pressure from immigration activists and their congressional enablers such as Gutiérrez. On the other hand, Univision itself jumps into the immigration debate, and takes a side. In one of the last newscasts she anchored before retiring from the network, María Elena Salinas bookended the above-referenced news story by saying:
MARIA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, NOTICIERO UNIVISION: We remind you to call Congress and demand that they act in order to resolve DACA by the end of the year. Make your voice heard, go to Univision dot com, slash llama tu congresista (call your Congressman), and use the hashtag “todos por los Dreamers (all in for the Dreamers)”.
If Univision’s position seems conflicted - urging congressional action on one end while fomenting recalcitrance on the other - here’s a reminder, via senior anchor Jorge Ramos, that Univision’s long-term future depends on immigration remaining unresolved. That’s what is best for business.
