Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Immigration on Univision

Questions about immigration dominated a forum for Democratic presidential candidates put on Sunday by the Spanish-language television network Univision.   For the CNN story, click here.

The debate was broadcast on Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish-language network. News anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas asked candidates questions in Spanish, which were then translated into English. Each candidate spoke in English, although Christopher Dodd and Bill Richardson got in a few lines in Spanish before the moderator stopped them. All of the answers were simultaneously translated into Spanish for the Univision audience. English closed captioning enabled English viewers to understand the debate.  Ruben Navarrette Jr. poked fun at the language rules of the debate in a CNN column.

All the 2008 Democratic presidential contenders at the debate said they would push quickly once in the White House for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws. Most of the candidates condemned what they said were Republican efforts to demonize illegal immigrants and use the issue of immigration to divide Americans.  for the most part, the candidates seemed surprised when asked why they supported a border fence with Mexico but not Canada.

On the campaign trail today in South Carolina, Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson took on the issue of illegal immigration:  “Friends, there is a major disconnect between Washington and the people of this country . . . .  There is no better example than this recent immigration fight. We are a nation of immigrants we all know that we all came from immigrants … But we now get to decide who comes into our home. We haven’t come to terms with the fact that a nation that cannot secure its borders will not remain a sovereign nation.”

KJ