Latino Stars Weigh in on Border Crisis: Eva Longoria and Paul Rodriguez Not on the Same Page
- Chad Arias
- Jul 30, 2014 01:58 PM EDT
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A new poll released by Economist/YouGov showed that 64 percent of Hispanics favor deportation of the more than 50,000 Central American immigrants who have entered the Unites States illegally. The poll emphasizes the split between Latinos in relation to social issues.
Eva Longoria recently spoke out against the boarder crisis in favor of the Central American immigrants who "weren't lucky enough" to be born in America.
In direct opposition to Longora's statements, comedian Paul Rodriguez told CNN that he would be in favor of deportation, because without it, Central Americans would get the wrong message about coming to America.
While accepting an award from the National Council of La Raza, Eva Longoria recalled a story from her childhood about waiting at the boarder to cross back into America.
"My dad would always say, 'Don't forget to say American citizen' and so we'd get to the border and I'd say, 'American citizen!' and then they let us through," said Longoria. "There was no checking of passports at that time and no papers to show, you just said 'American citizen.' And I remember telling my dad, 'Why doesn't everybody in that line just say American citizen?'
Times have changed since Longoria was child. The borders have been shored up and have become more restricted, with 'sanctuary' being limited only to Cuba and other communist countries.
Longoria went on to say, "I thought, 'They don't know the magic words!' - and my dad said, 'No, they can't say American citizen because they were born on the other side, el otro lado,' and I said, 'Why were we born on this side?' and he said, 'Because we were lucky.
Paul Rodriguez represents the other side of the coin when he talks about the perceived realities of simply letting Central American's have amnesty.
"I don't think we are divided. I think America has its heart in the right place, we need to be companionate, but we need to be stronger and enforce our laws," said Rodriguez. "It is precisely why we should make it clear to these countries that regardless of the trauma that they're going through... we have to set laws and let them know that this isn't the land of milk and honey."
Rodriguez advocates for the fair treatment of Central American immigrants, but stands by what he says is 'preserving America' and enforcing the borders.
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