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National Immigration, Latino Leaders Applaud As NBC Becomes Latest Network To Dump Trump

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In stunning breaking news earlier today, NBCUniversal announced it would be “ending its business relationship” with GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values,” the network said in a statement.

“Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.

To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC.”

A petition to NBC to drop Trump’s pageant and “Celebrity Apprentice” show had already gained over 200,000 signatures.

The network joins Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish-speaking network, in sacking Trump’s programming following his incendiary remarks that immigrants from Mexico are criminals and “rapists.”

In a letter released last weekend, leaders from the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda — which includes members from the National Council of La Raza, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Presente.org, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition — had urged NBC to “follow Univision’s lead.”

Trump’s rhetoric may be playing well to the most extreme of GOP primary voters — one new poll has him trailing only Jeb Bush — but, when it comes to his relationship with Latinos, the damage is irreparable.

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, a legendary figure in the Spanish-speaking community, slammed Trump in a scathing editorial published last week, with the network then announcing it would not air the Trump-owned Miss USA pageant.

Both of the show’s co-hosts, along with the featured performer, announced they would also be quitting the pageant, with one of the co-hosts slamming Trump as a “clown.”

Trump’s comments have caused a national outcry from the Latino community, with Buzzfeed reporter Adrian Carrasquillo tweeting, “I can’t quite remember when Latinos have spoken out so forcefully like this.”

Last weekend, attorney and USA Today contributor Raul Reyes wrote in an op-ed that “Trump’s comments are not only derogatory to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, they are derogatory to Latinos and all Americans who are descended from immigrants.”

In another op-ed published today, Fox News’s Rick Sanchez remarked that Trump’s derogatory remarks are uniting an unprecedented coalition of Latinos:

If you listen carefully, you can hear a collective “¡No más!” screamed all over America. Enough is enough. Hell hath no fury like 54 million people scorned. East coast Latinos like Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in New York; Cubans in South Florida and Mexicans in California have always blended, but never mixed. That is until now. Trump words have catalyzed some sense of solidarity and “I got your back mentality” among Hispanics.

Both columnists slammed the lack of courage from the Republican candidates, zero of whom have denounced Trump’s rhetoric and stood up to defend America’s immigrant families.

From Reyes:

This lack of outrage is striking because two other leading GOP candidates have deep roots in the Hispanic community and yet did not denounce Trump’s divisive words. Jeb Bush is married to a Mexican immigrant, and his children are Mexican-American. He has stated that he lives the “immigrant experience” by virtue of his marriage. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is the son of Cuban immigrants, and has made his compelling personal biography a centerpiece of his campaign. Neither Bush nor Rubio, however, has stood up for Latinos against Trump’s insults.

Immigration groups and Latino leaders from around the nation applauded NBC’s decision to dump Trump: