On Spanish-language TV, Sen. Lindsey Graham seemed to backtrack on his warnings that immigration reform would die if Democrats forced the health care overhaul through Congress.
Obama sits down to talk to Jorge Ramos on Univision. (Photo: Univision.com)
Part of President Barack Obama’s Sunday morning interview blitz was a sitdown with Univision’s Jorge Ramos, in which the anchor’s questions were as telling as the president’s answers.
Ramos confronted Obama not only about whether undocumented immigrants will be able to buy insurance under a reformed health care system, but also questioned his use of the term “illegal immigrants” during his recent speech to Congress and pressured him on his fading promise of putting forward an immigration reform bill during his first year in office.
Obama stepped carefully around the thornier questions and, other than reaffirming that the undocumented will only get health insurance by paying full price for it, did not say much that was news to an Hispanic audience that may be increasingly disappointed with his government.
Sarah Palin talks to Univision's Jorge Ramos
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was seemingly out to counter the critics who complain that she doesn’t talk to the press. On Tuesday, she sat down to chat with CNN, NBC and Spanish-language network Univision. The interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was the first Palin has granted to a Spanish-language media outlet and it touched upon a few issues of interest to Latinos in the U.S.
The interview –which aired Tuesday and will be broadcast again Sunday morning [see listings]– was the first time Palin spoke about the touchy, mood-killing issue of immigration, as La Opinión blogger and Feet in 2 Worlds contributor Pilar Marrero noted. [You can see clips from the interview here.]
The vice presidential nominee said she did not support “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. But she also said she doesn’t think all of them should be arrested and deported, according to a story on Univision’s website.
[Update: You can read the whole interview in English here.]
“There is no way that in the U.S. we would roundup every illegal immigrant — there are about twelve million illegal immigrants,” Palin said. “We –our policy– John McCain has been so clear with his policy and it makes a lot of sense too: we secure our borders first.
“But then with a comprehensive approach we must deal humanely with those who are here, and we must allow the steps to be taken to protect the families of those who are here, maybe as illegal immigrants today.”
