Fusion (Opinion)
By Jorge Ramos
September 1, 2015
I’m
a journalist; my job is to ask questions. Donald Trump is a
presidential candidate; his job is to explain to voters what he would do
if he were elected. Our objectives
were bound to collide.
In
June, Trump announced his run for the Republican presidential
nomination by declaring: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not
sending their best. They’re not sending
you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re
bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re
bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
This
statement is blatantly false. An overwhelming majority of undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. are not criminals. Every study available
(including research from the
Immigration Policy Center) has concluded that that the crime rate among
immigrants is lower than that of the U.S.-born population. Further,
there exists no evidence — not a shred! — that the Mexican government is
somehow conspiring to send criminals to the
U.S.
Yet
Trump — the party’s front-runner, according to most polls — insisted on
repeating these assertions. So I decided to present him with the facts
and offer him an opportunity
to explain his views. In late June, I sent him a handwritten letter
requesting an interview and included my personal cellphone number. Trump
didn’t respond; instead, he posted my letter to Instagram. (Yes, I had
to change my number.)
After that incident, I looked for another way to ask Trump the following questions:
1.
Your plan to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants from the U.S.
would be one of the most massive deportation efforts in modern history.
How, exactly, would you
deport 11 million people? By deploying the Army? By using stadiums as
holding facilities?
2.
Let’s say that you succeeded in amending the Constitution to deny
citizenship to U.S.-born children of undocumented residents. Where would
you send babies with no country
and no passport?
3.
Why do you advocate building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border when
almost 40% of undocumented immigrants arrive in the U.S. by plane with
temporary visas, and then
just stay here? Wouldn’t the construction of a 1,900-mile wall be a
massive waste of time and taxpayer money?
I
took those questions to Dubuque, Iowa, in August, where Trump was
slated to hold a rally and a news conference. I registered for the news
conference and arrived almost
two hours early. Eventually, Trump walked in. After two reporters had
asked him questions, I spoke up and said that I had a question about
immigration. Nobody in the room objected, so I stood and began to ask my
question. Trump, evidently irritated by what
he was hearing, cut me off and ordered me to sit down. You may have
already seen the rest of our encounter, including my ejection from the
room, on social media.
In
summary, I wouldn’t sit down, and I wouldn’t shut up. As a journalist,
an immigrant and an American citizen, I had a right to ask questions.
But rather than provide
answers, Trump ordered one of his guards to escort me out of the room.
I’ve been working as a journalist for more than 30 years, and in all
that time, I’d never been kicked out of a news conference. That’s the
sort of thing that happens in dictatorships, not
democracies.
After
about 10 minutes — and after fellow journalists Tom Llamas from ABC
News and Kasie Hunt from MSNBC addressed my expulsion with Trump — he
let me back in. I returned
on the condition that I could ask my questions. So I asked them. And,
as has been the case since he launched his campaign, Trump refused to
offer specifics.
In
the aftermath of this incident, I was accused of being an activist.
That’s not the case — I’m simply a journalist who asks questions. And
journalists have an obligation
to take a stand when it comes to racism, discrimination, corruption,
public lies, dictatorships and human rights violations. From Edward R.
Murrow challenging Sen. Joe McCarthy, to Walter Cronkite denouncing the
Vietnam War, time and again in our history journalists
have taken a stand, confronting the powerful and influential.
Today,
Trump is speaking out against a minority and fomenting hatred against
the most vulnerable people in our nation. And who will be influenced by
his rhetoric? Who
will succumb to his fear-mongering? Who will buy into the premise that
immigrants are at the heart of America’s problems?
I
had to look no further than right outside the press room in Iowa, where
one of Trump’s supporters bellowed at me: “Get out of my country! Get
out!” It’s my country,
too, I told him. This happened moments after Trump told me to “go back
to Univision.”
After our heated exchange, Trump told me that we would talk. I hope so. I have some more questions for him.
Jorge
Ramos, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, is the host of Fusion’s new
television news show, “America With Jorge Ramos,” and is a news anchor
on the Univision Network.
Originally from Mexico and now based in Florida, Ramos is the author of
nine best-selling books, most recently, “A Country for All: An
Immigrant Manifesto.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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