Miami-based Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, left, asks Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a question about his immigration proposal during a news conference in Iowa
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken on another popular TV news personality, this time a Spanish-language broadcaster who was eventually removed from a news conference.
The billionaire businessman engaged in a prolonged confrontation about his immigration policy Tuesday (early yesterday, Macau time) with Jorge Ramos, the Miami-based anchor for Univision, during a news conference in Iowa.
Trump, who has taken an early lead in the crowded Republican presidential race but remains a long shot for the White House, has already unnerved party leaders with his inflammatory comments about Hispanics. Republican leaders see Latinos, who have voted overwhelmingly Democratic in recent presidential elections, as a rapidly growing demographic critical to their future. Trump launched his campaign by describing Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally as “criminals” and “rapists.”
Earlier this month he sparked a feud with a popular female TV host, worrying some Republicans that he was damaging the party’s image among women, another demographic the party has tried to court.
On Tuesday, Ramos began to ask Trump about his immigration proposal, which includes ending automatic citizenship for infants born in the United States to parents in the country illegally.
Trump interrupted him, saying he hadn’t called on Ramos before repeatedly telling him to “sit down” and then saying, “Go back to Univision.”
As he was taken from the room, Ramos said, “You cannot build a 1,900-mile (3,000 kilometers) wall,” another proposal in Trump’s plan.
Moments later, Trump defended Ramos’ removal, saying: “He just stands up and starts screaming. Maybe he’s at fault also.”
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” yesterday morning, Ramos said he was not expecting to be tossed from the news conference.
“Never in my life — and I’ve been a journalist for more than 30 years — have I been thrown out of a press conference,” he said.
Trump told NBC’s “Today” show that Ramos “stood up and started ranting and raving like a madman. He was totally, absolutely out of line.” Thomas Beaumont, Dubuque, Iowa, AP
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