with the announcement of the retirement
of Representative Ilya Ilya Norris
laitanan a gaggle of contenders suddenly
appeared from both parties they stepped
forward trying to claim her seat in
Congress and in fact we've had many of
the candidates right here and we have
that opportunity again today Maria
Elvira Salazar is a veteran reporter and
anchor on spanish-language television
she is a Republican from Coral Gables
who's running for public office for the
first time welcome great to have you
here to be here I love your set
experience on TV well made a living for
35 years well and now journalism - you
know you you are the one who asks the
questions and now you want to be the one
who has the answers how is that going to
happen exactly well I'm going to try to
answer as best as possible with the
truth not as the way the politicians we
have heard the way they have answered
for so many years that sometimes they
talk they talk they talk and they don't
promise I'm not a politician I'm a
journalist that has step up to the plate
and I think that's the way I can serve
my community best at a campaign event on
Friday that I attended at Casablanca
wanto in Little Havana
you made immigration a prime topic and
you said I'm just going to sort of
summarize briefly what you said
essentially once that the 11 million
people who are in this country
undocumented but have lived and worked
and not broken the law there should be a
way for them to have legal residency in
the US now your opponents would say wow
that's amnesty what do you say oh no no
that's not amnesty what I'm saying is
that the system allowed for those people
to stay 7 point 7 million people out of
the 11 million undocumented that live in
this country do not have a criminal
record and they haven't been living here
for more than 15 years I believe that
there is an overwhelming agreement in
the Republican Party that those people
need to have some type of legality I'm
not talking about citizenship I'm not
talking about amnesty I'm saying to give
them some legal legal resident status
but not but not enough of the agreement
in the party for there to be enough
votes to pass any kind of reform the
Republican Party has an outstanding
opportunity to be or President Trump to
be for immigration what Nixon was for
China if we want to be it could be done
because the base has been taken care of
let's secure the border in any way shape
or form
unless let's give some legal status to
those people that without a criminal
record that have stayed here and then
let's but let's put to rest this
immigration mess that it's it's really
creating chaos within the party and in
and in the country excuse me and the
corollary here are the thousands of
people in this community and across the
country from Haiti Nicaragua El Salvador
Guatemala who have come because of
natural disasters the earthquake in
Haiti who are here under TPS but that is
ending for all of them by July of next
year you are saying they ought to be
able to say as well if we have an
immigration reform law will take care of
the TPS recipients will take care of the
daca the parents of the daca the
unaccompanied minors the everybody that
that is part of this mess that we're
talking about okay but so as long as
we're talking about this and the
rhetoric that you don't want to continue
how because the devil is in the details
of those things and so how do you take
care of all those people and still come
up with some immigration policy that
many in this country will not consider
to be amnesty that that's been such a
difficult thing to get over how what are
the details of who we were talking about
the dreamers at some point we were
talking about giving the dreamers from
10 to 12 years to a type of legal
residency well we could use that to give
the dreamers obviously their parents and
other people that are helping the
economy because also we have to
understand that sometimes with the low
unemployment we have at this hour
sometimes we have more jobs than hands
you know Maria we've had there are so
many people in this race there's between
Democrats Republicans and an
independent and so many people have very
similar views about all of these issues
along party lines
you know the veteran congresswoman
Ileana ros-lehtinen is a moderate
Republican had a very successful tenure
very big on human rights civil rights
take an opportunity and distinguish
yourself how do you align with that how
do you differ from that what makes you
different from the rest of the
Republicans in this race well I think
that you would have to ask the voters
and look at the and look at the polls oh
come on you you know what sets you apart
you think you're qualified you you've
got a graduate degree from Harvard
Kennedy School
I mean he's answering the question I
think I have I have the trust and the
credibility that have earned for 35
years in this community of with the
because they have known me and have
covered those stories with upmost
integrity so I think that the
possibility of having done that I've
been a a personal witness and that
empowers me in the eyes of the voters
and in the eyes of Washington to take
those stories and try to change them for
the better well one of the stories that
you did among hundreds was an interview
I think 1995 with Fidel Castro it may
have been the only interview I think he
gave to an American spanish-language
journalist that's correct although
Bernadette part of it did stop him on
one other occasion anyway one of your
opponents in this primary Stephen mark
says turn this into a advertisement and
let's run a little bit of it it is in
Spanish but it shows you in 1995
interviewing Castro and the point that
he is trying to make here is that you
seem kind of smitten by Castro you're
smiling you call him a world historic
figure of revolutionary and mr. Marx
seems to be saying you know she's not
tough on cast for come on despicable
what he's doing it's despicable because
that editing has been manipulated
because the translation is not correct
from English to Spanish because the ad
has two minutes I have been one of the
probably the staunchest and the most one
of the most
hardest critics of the Cuban Revolution
on the air Spanish television as you say
and for this guy to come and say that I
am a communist I mean I am livid not
only because it's it's conniving because
it's not true because there's
manipulated that the video has been
manipulated and on top of that my
attorneys have asked the station's to
pull it off
from the air because it does not comply
with federal rules but let me tell you
something more it's very suspicious
because it's very conniving and very
suspicious in terms of where the money
came from that's a range I'm gonna leave
that up to you and for you to do a
wonderful investigative reporting that
you've done but in reality what's
happening here and if it to come and and
accuse me of being a communist and
manipulating the story and that
interview that it's an hour long and it
has many segments where I'm very tough
on the dictator so it's it's I'm I'm
very very upset really quickly before
before we run out of time TV time you
know all about in the news the tyrant
the the president's meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin and apparently
his invitation to visit the United
States with him weigh in on that from
your perch as a GOP candidate in South
Florida Trump is a very unconventional
president and I've said many times over
that we have to pay attention to what he
does and not I mean to what he says then
not what he does I am enamored with a
system and with this country I believe
that the American electoral system
worked he won by the rules and he was
their result we need to treat him with
respect because he represents the
institution of the presidency represent
the office the office of the presidency
yeah and and and I understand and I have
reported on Trump for a few years now
and we know that some people do not
agree with what he's saying but I still
believe that we should not use any
personal insults and we should treat
that the the Oval Office and as you said
the presidency with utmost respect you
know why because there is no other
country in the world like this one we
have institutions we have Congress we
have the laws we have the courts we have
the Supreme Court we have the
president we have the bureaucracy and we
have the Congress and you want to be
part of it so I will be calling him out
whenever I have to but I will be
saluting him whenever he does something
good for the United States it's great to
have you here like me more often please
well perhaps I'll invite you back with
the democratic debate if that's the way
it turns out whatever the voters say at
the end thank you very much for your
invitation