After last week’s RNC report encouraging Republicans to support immigration reform, chair of the American Conservative Union Al Cárdenas sat down with Jorge Ramos on Al Punto to talk about the GOP’s mea culpa to Latino voters. They discussed the mistakes Mitt Romney and the Republicans committed in the last election cycle, that turned off minority voters, and how Republicans can attempt to come back from that failure this year by supporting immigration reform. Cárdenas also gave his predictions of what immigration legislation will look like in the House and Senate. View our translated transcript below–or watch the original interview here.
Ramos: Today we begin the program with kind of a mea culpa from the Republicans. The Republican Party surprisingly came out [last] week saying they made a mistake in their strategy to get Latino voters and that they are going to change.
Ramos: Many people are surprised about the public acknowledgment—almost a confession–from the Republican Party that in the last elections you made a grave mistake with Latinos.
Cárdenas: Undoubtedly, and we put it in writing. First we acknowledged the mistakes we made in the past; second, we made a commitment, in terms of resources and capacity, to carry out a long-term campaign meant to reach the Hispanic community. We’re not just talking about political announcements; we’re talking about working with Hispanic organizations like NALEO, NCLR, and MALDEF–Hispanic organizations that the party has ignored in the past. We’re talking about bringing the whole party to talk to Hispanics, and people within the party exclusively devoted to the long term growth of our presence within the Hispanic community in general.
Ramos: Where did you make a mistake? What did you do wrong? Why didn’t you get the Latino vote?
Cárdenas: Look, Jorge, it was a lack of appreciation for the demographic changes in this country. If you analyze the vote in these presidential elections, we received a higher percentage of the Anglo-Saxon vote than ever before in presidential elections. However, 30% of the electorate is made up of Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians, 80% of whom voted for the Democratic Party.
Ramos: So they don’t like you?
Cárdenas: Exactly. And this has been, as I say, because of lack of electoral affection. To be in a competitive position the community needs to feel real affection, care and concern for their interests; and that’s the commitment we’re making for the journey that lies ahead.
Ramos: Right after the presidential elections you confessed–you said, our party is too white, too old and has too many men. Can you change?
Cárdenas: It’s necessary. Last week we had a conference in Washington that Univision covered widely, with immigration panels, with a 180-degree change in perspective and an audience of over ten thousand colleagues and conservative activists. We had 18 Hispanics who spoke during the most important events and they received a very warm welcome. The interesting thing is, we had attendees vote for their preferred presidential candidate. Senators Cruz and Rubio, two Hispanics, received 35% of the vote between them. And 90% voted in favor of candidates that were less than 45 years old. There is a general commitment to turn the page and start a new chapter, in every sense of the word, with a big welcome for the Hispanic community.
Ramos: Interesting that you use the phrase “turn the page.” Who told Mitt Romney that the best way to get to Latinos would be with “self-deportation?” Many Latinos clearly felt rejected (by the party) because of that idea, and many of you had to come out to defend Mitt Romney.
Cárdenas: Yes, it was a very complicated and very difficult time for those of us who disagreed with that perspective, who clearly saw the demographic changes in America and were frustrated with how slow our party was in recognizing these changes.
Ramos: So you are convinced that without Latinos you won’t get to the White House?
Cárdenas: It’s impossible; 20 years from now the majority of the North American population will be composed of minority voters. If today that 30% votes 80% against you, that means that in 20 years, 50% of the population won’t vote for us and we’ll forever be a minority party in America unless we make these changes.
Ramos: As you know, polls say that majority of Latinos want Immigration reform. Sixty-three percent of Latinos have an undocumented acquaintance or someone who is a part of their family. But there are several Republicans in Congress who still don’t want immigration reform. This won’t solve anything, then?
Cárdenas: Well, I’m optimistic that both in the Senate and the House we’ll pass immigration reform. Remember that there are several seats in Congress where there is no Hispanic population, no contact with the Hispanic community, and there is also concern about setting a precedent of not following American laws. I think little by little they’ve been getting a better understanding of the economic interest of the United States, the human interest, the moral interest of the United States in doing what’s right. And every day we see a new congressman who says “I’ve changed my mind; I’m in favor of immigration reform.” I’m very optimistic that both chambers will pass an immigration reform bill.
Ramos: But when they talk about immigration reform, many Republicans think that we should legalize millions of undocumented immigrants but don’t want to give them citizenship. Hispanics feel rejected and feel like they want to keep them as a second-class group of people. Do you think immigration reform has to have a path to citizenship?
Cárdenas: I prefer that. I think it has to be a slow path because you can’t give priority to those who didn’t follow the same legal routes as their brothers and sisters.
Ramos: So many years? More than ten, let’s say?
Cárdenas: I think so, but any immigrant’s journey is from 8 to 10 years anyway.
Ramos: So you think there should be a path to citizenship?
Cárdenas: I think so. However, I don’t know it’ll pass in the House of Representatives.
Ramos: How do you see the plan? How will it happen?
Cárdenas: I think there will be an Immigration reform bill in the House of Representatives and I feel optimistic that something will pass in the House. I think it will legalize all the people who are undocumented, I think it’ll give them a work permit and visa. That will be the decision in the House of Representatives.
Ramos: Without citizenship in the House?
Cárdenas: Without citizenship. In the Senate it will have a path to citizenship and when that happens there will be two bills that don’t align 100%, so both chambers will have to go into conference and eventually make a decision. My hope is that in that conference we get to an agreement which will eventually lead to a path to citizenship. But if that’s not the case, my second preference would be to approve a comprehensive bill to legalize everyone here, and eventually, 2 to 3 years from now, go back and give them a path to citizenship. That’s what we did with our Central American brothers and sisters when we couldn’t give them a path to citizenship originally. But when we had the chance, after they had been legally in the United States, we eventually got them that path to citizenship.
Ramos: So, let me see if I understand this correctly. For now it would be legalization without citizenship and, eventually, we’d give them citizenship.
Cárdenas: In the House. In the Senate–no, the Senate will have a direct path to citizenship. They’ll then have to come together in conference and reach a decision on which of both options will be adopted as U.S. law.
Ramos: You just got back from Washington, very cold. There are two people who seem to be determining the path within the Republican Party. Marco Rubio—Hispanic–and Rand Paul. Are they the candidates?
Cárdenas: Well, there are other young candidates as well. I think there will be two qualifications needed to obtain the nomination. One is youth, the other is a relatively fresh and new face. That’s why I said previously that we’re turning the page to a new chapter and a new generation of leaders within the party and leaders within the conservative movement. There’s the two of them; Ted Cruz is up and coming; there’s Governor Walker, Governor Bobby Jindal and Governor Christie. There are 3 or 4 governors who are also very young, and 3 young senators. But in my opinion, those 6 or 7 will determine the nomination of the party.
Ramos: How many years have you been a Republican?
Cárdenas: Many. Three decades.
Ramos: Of these three decades, do you feel like the party is changing at last?
Cárdenas: Undoubtedly. Well, I felt that the party had made the commitment to begin engaging our community during the time of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but those times didn’t last very long and then we lost our way. Now I think that at last we’ve realized–with these devastating electoral results–that, first, it’s the right thing to do, and second, we have to do it.
Watch the full interview with Jorge Ramos and Al Cárdenas here.
