Donald Trump’s ejection of venerated Spanish-language journalist Jorge Ramos from a press question-and-answer session has infuriated other Spanish-language journalists, who roundly condemned the Republican presidential candidate.
Ramos was bounced from a press conference by a security guard after he attempted to question Trump on his immigration policy – one criticized as extremist and ambiguous. “Go back to Univision,” Trump told Ramos in a reference to the Spanish-language TV network.
Ramos was told to “sit down” multiple times by Trump, who attempted to call on other journalists (“Next.”). Ramos was escorted out when he continued to attempt to ask a question.
“I did wait for my turn – you know how it is in those press conferences,” Ramos told the ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview after the scuffle. “Two reporters before me ask a question, and then I said, ‘I have a question on immigration.’ He didn’t say anything, I stood up, I started my question, he didn’t like my question, and when he didn’t like my question and he motioned so the one security guard would come where I was and threw me out of the press conference.”
Ramos is one of the most well-respected journalists in Spanish-language media. A Mexican American, he is regularly included on lists of the most influential Latin American politicians, pundits and journalists. He hosts Al Punto on Univision and America with Jorge Ramos on Fusion, among other programs.
Trump, when asked by other journalists why he had thrown Ramos out, said Ramos was “screaming”. Ramos was let back into the press conference, and pressed Trump on the specifics of his immigration proposal to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, undo birthright citizenship and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Trump said he would “humanely” deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country with “great management”.
Ramos later told Univision journalists in Spanish coverage: “In no part of the world have I ever been thrown out of a press conference by force, never. This is the first time.
“In the same way he threw me out of a press conference, he would want to throw 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the United States,” Ramos told Univision in Spanish. “It worries me a lot, this use of force to suppress freedom of expression.”
Many Spanish-language journalists see comments made during Ramos’s expulsion – “Go back to Univision” – as at least mirroring racist sentiments urging immigrants to go back to their country of origin.
“As if [Ramos was] of one of the millions of undocumented immigrants that [Trump] wants to throw out of the United States, Trump ordered the Univision journalist Jorge Ramos to leave his territory this Tuesday,” said a Univision story in Spanish, that rounded up condemnation from the network’s president and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Never thought "go back to Univision" would be the euphemism for "go back to [insert Latin American country]" but I should've seen it coming.
— Ana Graciela Méndez (@agMendezPty) August 26, 2015
In a campaign that seems to traffic in offensive remarks about nearly every broad voter constituency – women, veterans, immigrants – some of Trump’s most churlish commentary is about Latinos.
Trump’s support among Latinos is abysmal. A recent Gallup poll found that his net favorability rating – that is, voters who view him favorably minus those that don’t – was negative 51%. By the same measure, his closest competition at the bottom is the Texas senator Ted Cruz and former Texas governor Rick Perry, who both have a Latino favorability rating of negative 7%.
Latino celebrities and news outlets have compared Trump to Hitler, and media reports indicate the nickname could be widespread.
There are 18.8 million Latino immigrants in the United States, part of the 54 million people in the United States that demographers characterize as Latino. Hispanic voters are believed to be one of the most important demographic groups for Republicans to win the White House. They represent more than 17% of the American population, and 12% of eligible voters. The group is especially influential in swing states such as Florida.
