Fernando Espuelas made his name in LA radio during the 2012 campaign, interviewing the likes of Obama, Biden and Axelrod. But the hyper-partisan is a figure of controversy within the immigration activist world.
AP images Jacquelyn Martin and Jose Luis Magana. Courtesy Fernando Espuelas
Last year, when the prominent leader of a Latino group called President Obama the "deporter-in-chief," he had a defender — the Spanish-language radio host Fernando Espuelas.
He fired off a missive very similar to what Obama was then saying: Espuelas accused NCLR's Janet Murguia and other activists of "advocating that Obama break the law of the land."
Just months later, though, when rumblings from the administration began about executive actions, he declared, "Obama should be ready to act." When Obama decided to delay those actions, he was there again: "President Obama should wait on immigration executive action." And when Obama ultimately announced the actions, he proclaimed that Obama was "ascendant."
Fernando Espuelas is there for President Obama, in other words. The 48-year-old Univision radio host has risen from local counter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to repeated White House visitor. He's moved his show, once broadcast from Los Angeles, to Washington, D.C., and he's played host to the likes of Obama, Joe Biden, and David Axelrod. But Espuelas is not without enormous controversy within the larger immigration activist world, because of something else he does: attack Obama's opponents on immigration, even within the movement, and with the help of a network of Twitter users who can be, at times, vicious.
Espuelas is known for these attacks on DREAMer activists, as well as Republicans, from multiple platforms — his show, Twitter account, and the columns he writes for The Hill and Huffington Post. Espuelas has been accused of everything from carrying water for the Obama administration on immigration by activists as well as presenting himself as a journalist when he isn't one by Republicans who have taken their complaints to Univision.
For his part, Espuelas supports changing immigration policy in the country in a permanent way. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, he said while he's supported the administration on immigration, he disagrees with Obama on foreign policy. He also distanced himself from the network of Twitter supporters who go on the offense.
His critics remain displeased.
"I'm just worried that he's being used or is somehow in a relationship with the Democratic Party," said DREAMer activist leader Erika Andiola, herself no stranger to Espuelas' attacks. He's accused her of "sabotaging Democracy" during the lead up to the midterm elections. "He's trying to diminish DREAMers, make us seem like we're a crazy group of people because we question some of the Democratic Party's actions."
Take, for example, what happened right after Marco Rubio's presidential announcement.
The Florida senator was asked — on Univision — what should be done with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows undocumented youth to stay in the country. In Spanish, Rubio said DACA was "important" and that it shouldn't be canceled suddenly, but that it also "can't be permanent policy," and will eventually be replaced by legislation.
A mistranslated version of the comments took off on Breitbart. Meanwhile, Gaby Pacheco, a longtime DREAMer activist, tweeted in Spanish that Rubio hadn't said he would seek to end DACA.
Espuelas went after Pacheco.
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1GqhLL1
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