The Hill (Op-Ed)
By Raul Reyes
February 16, 2016
Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump has settled his $500 million
lawsuit against the Spanish-language TV network Univision, after they
dumped his Miss Universe
and Miss USA pageants over his anti-immigrant remarks. Although terms
of the settlement were not disclosed, Trump said in a statement released
by Univision, "I have known Univision's President and CEO, Randy Falco,
for more than 20 years and I'm glad we are
able to put these differences behind us."
If
only he had stopped there. But being Trump, of course, he didn't. In a
tweet posted on Saturday, the current GOP front-runner said, "Now that I
have settled my litigation
with Univision, I look forward to sitting down with their star anchor
(not baby) for an interview."
The
Donald was referring to Jorge Ramos, Univision's lead anchor, whom
Trump infamously tossed out of a news conference last year — as well as
to the derogatory expression
"anchor baby." Although Trump did not directly call Ramos an "anchor
baby," his insinuation was deliberate.
"Anchor
baby" is a term that is considered "disparaging" by the American
Heritage Dictionary. Not only is it offensive to Latinos, it is
offensive to immigrants and the
children of immigrants. Consider that when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
(R) used this term last year, he drew criticism from both Latino and
Asian-American groups. "Anchor babies" is a racially loaded slur. Its
use serves no legitimate purpose, other than
to coarsen our already contentious immigration debate.
This
slur is also based on a myth. The term "anchor baby" stems from the
assumption that having an American-born child can "anchor" an
undocumented immigrant in this country.
Not true. The Department of Homeland Security routinely deports men and
women with American-born kids. Between 2010 and 2012, the United States
deported nearly 205,000 parents of citizen kids. In 2013, the U.S.
deported more than 72,000 parents with citizen
children.
Sure,
one of the hallmarks of Trump's political career has been his
derogatory remarks about everyone from Latinos to Muslims to disabled
people. Yet that doesn't mean
we should become desensitized to his bigotry. And the fact that Trump
later deleted this tweet does not suffice as an apology.
"Anchor
babies," by the way, are American children; the Pew Center estimated
that in 2012 there were 4.5 million U.S. citizen children under 18
living here with undocumented
parents.
For
the record, Ramos is not an "anchor baby." He is a naturalized U.S.
citizen. Between his books, newspaper columns, and shows on Univision
and the Fusion network, he
reaches millions of readers and viewers throughout the U.S. and Latin
America.
With
his "anchor" tweet, Trump once again flaunts his mean-spirited
ignorance. The reference to "anchor baby" is an insult to Ramos – and to
millions of American children.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment