Univision News anchor Jorge Ramos spoke this week at the Time 100 Gala in New York City, drawing attention to corruption in Mexico, Venezuela, and the DREAMers aka. the 1.8 million undocumented, young students in the United States who are fighting for immigration reform.
Carefully laid out in three poignant toasts, Ramos first saluted the work of Mexican journalists who were the first to report the corruption of Enrique Peña Nieto‘s “casa blanca” scandal, including Carmen Aristegui who was controversially fired earlier this year. Nieto’s administration has been severely criticized by the international community, and recent polls in Mexico show that people believe corruption is at an all time high since he took office in 2012. He also drew attention to political prisoners in Venezuela, specifically Leopoldo López, who has been in jail for over one year.
He closed his powerful speech with a final toast to the DREAMers, the children of undocumented immigrants who fought for legislation such as the DREAM Act and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Since Obama enacted the DACA program in 2012, some opportunities are now available for young members of the undocumented population in the U.S to remain in the country without fear of being deported.
Ramos’ made his stirring speech in English with some points repeated for Spanish speaking audiences. He concluded that those who made the Time 100 were rebels in some capacity, just like the people he offered his toasts to. He spoke to a crowd that consisted predominantly of older, wealthy, white individuals who, if you watch the video closely, look rather uncomfortable during the whole thing. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were also in attendance.