Jorge Ramos hasn’t quite had the career of Dan Schorr, but he may be on his way to matching at least Schorr’s longevity. Ramos is only 52 but already has been a national news anchor for 24 years. And if you don’t yet recognize him, you probably will soon. Ramos has the most-watched nightly newscast in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and Houston. Noticieros Univision airs on the Spanish language cable network. Ramos also hosts Univision’s Sunday morning public affairs show called Al Punto or To the Point. You can read more about Ramos at his web site. Or go straight to his most recent book, A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto.
Jorge Ramos
Jorge Ramos hasn’t quite had the career of Dan Schorr, but he may be on his way to matching at least Schorr’s longevity. Ramos is only 52 but already has been a national news anchor for 24 years. And if you don’t yet recognize him, you probably will soon. Ramos has the most-watched nightly newscast in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and Houston. Noticieros Univision airs on the Spanish language cable network. Ramos also hosts Univision’s Sunday morning public affairs show called Al Punto or To the Point. You can read more about Ramos at his web site. Or go straight to his most recent book, A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto.
Well it seems to be true AZ has taken liberty’s too far. I’m against undocumented immigration. It’s not fair to the rest of the world’s population (predominately third world countries) who desire to come to America. Why should Mexico immigrants have more rights than Central America, Africa, Asia, Europe, India, the Pacific Rim, Australia, South America and all those other respectable places I left out? If you come by air or sea border controlling immigration is easier in assuring proper passports and working visas (mysterious item the media calls papers). Because Mexico has vast opportunity to cross the border undetected does it give them the right for amnesty over others? I’m all for requiring Mexico to play by the same rule as the rest o the world. However AZ should go about like business as usual not go out of their way to seek and find.
I had never before heard the Bob Edwards program, and was interested in the topic being discussed when I came across this show on Saturday. I was surprised when I heard Mr. Edwards announce that this was "a discussion" about immigration. Hardly. This was an immigration lecture by Mr. Ramos, with no give and take that typically characterizes a true discussion. I have absolutely no concerns about latino legal immigration to this country. For that matter, I have no concerns about any legal immigration to this country. The issue I have is with those who trash our laws, and bleed our country’s legal, medical, educational, and financial resources. I would favor opening the borders completely if we denied any government benefits to these people, and if any children born of these illegals were not automatically American citizens. At that point, we would see if all illegal immigrants want is work.
Thank you Ridahoan. This is what I am talking about when I say "calm and thoughtful discussion".
I have a mixed reaction to the Ramos interview. While clearly bright and thoughtful, he seems less inclined to open a dialog with those fearful of latino immigration, than to tell us that it is inevitable, and unlike past waves that shaped America, destined to force its own culture and language upon us. He is telling us that if we do not accept them, they will take us by force: economically, politically, and culturally.
I do not fully accept this. Taken individually, I think latino and other immigrants are among the most energetic and ambitious people, and have great respect for the risks and sacrifices they willingly endure. It matters little to me whether they have entered this country legally; in general, I expect that it is the more privileged that are able to gain legal access, while it is the most vigorous of the impoverished that make it. However, I am not sure that I would willingly accept the latinization of our country.
I have lived for more than a year in a latin american country, and my impression is that while the latino culture has much to offer, the tendency to defer authority and responsibility to a powerful patron does not strike me as naturally democratic. It is possible that many of the people that escape their failed countries to come to ours also do not accept this social hierarchy either — perhaps the illegal aliens that make it to our country have a stronger democratic character. If this is true we might do better to maintain our impractical immigration policy as a filter.
After living in Southern California, I have also come to believe that immigration is bad for ‘white’ Americans. White Southern Californians are typically spoiled and seem to have lost the pioneering American spirit that built this country. For example, I could count on my hands the number of times I saw white people mowing their own lawns. Rather than take pride in manual labor, they now seem to feel superior to working jobs that they now see as properly done by a second class group of people easily identified by their browner skin. I find less to admire in these people than with the immigrants that are tending their gardens. However, I am not convinced that the children of these immigrants will embrace the America that I love, or continue with the sacrifice and hard-work of their first generation parents.
Should a people or a country be able to control its own cultural destiny? Perhaps. Looking across the world now, it does not seem that multicultural pluralism is working as we had hoped. Nonetheless, many of our most ambitious, brilliant, and hard-working are immigrants. I think we should find a middle ground and continue to benefit from the great people that come to our shores, legally or illegally, but I do not accept a ‘Latinization’ of America as inevitable or desirable.
I am always surprised when I read (and hear) these responses to the immigration issue. Unless you are an American Indian, you are product of immigration. Did you not hear that immigrants are not taking jobs citizens want or are willing to do? Did you not hear that immigrants (legal and undocumented) add jobs and wealth over all to this country? (as confirmed by independent study) When are we going to have a calm, thoughtful discussion about immigration? As you can see from my name, I’m of German decent. My forefathers would have been the immigrants that Ben Franklin would have wished not to come to our shores… As was stated in the report, one day in the not too distant future, we will need immigrants to do those jobs that a aging population will be unable to do.
The idea of "a country for all" is fine and dandy, but what actually has happened with the illegal Mexican/Latino aliens is simply NO Kum Bah Yah/ We Are The World scenorio. No only have the Latino illegals sucked up billions and billions of public resources and turned state upon state bankrupt with their insatiable demand for free medical care, free education and school lunches, free bilingual classses(which mostly go to waste as too many of them are simply too lazy and feel too self-important that they expect everyone to learn their language), and not to mention how much the presence of illegal/ slave labor has dragged down wages and mostly, LOWERED QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF WORK TREMENDOUSLY.
What I get from Mr. Ramos and most supporters for Latino/Mexican illegals is that they just want to come here for a better life, like everyone else. Yet the illegal Latinos/Mexicans are the group of people who are THE WORST when it comes to obeying and laws of this country, the country with which they claim that they want to make a better life. Anyone with eyes and ears that work can see how the "ever" increasing Latino population has done to the quality of living in this country.
It is absolutely disgusting and beyond shameless how the illegal Latinos and their supporters have exploited, abused and manipulated this once magnificent land closer and closer into the hopeless cesspool and killing field that mr. Ramos described Mexico to be.
why dont your people go back to mexico and fix up your own country instead of trying to take ove us you state there is so much corruption in your country what makes you think that your peopale wont bring all of that to this countrty?