At the end of a feisty, combative interview about immigration policy and the plight of illegal immigrants last Wednesday night, Fox News anchor Sean Hannity made Univision anchor Jorge Ramos a proposal.
“Let me ask you a question,” Hannity said. “Will you go down with me and do a town hall? In Texas, and we’ll invite the 642,000 families — those that would like to come — that were victims of [crimes committed by illegal immigrants] and listen to their stories? Will you come?”
When Ramos said “yes” but suggested he’d want to have a discussion with Hannity about who would attend the event, Hannity took that as a “no” to his specific offer.
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But, reached by email over the weekend, Ramos expressed confidence that the event could actually happen. And, there’s been a tangible development — he said he’s already had a call with one of Hannity’s producers.
“I’m really looking forward for the town hall to happen,” Ramos told The Hollywood Reporter. “There is a lot of misinformation about immigrants in this country and this would be a great opportunity to set the record straight.”
Ramos said there’s no set timeline for the event, which is very early in the planning stages and hasn’t taken shape yet. If the event doesn’t come to fruition, disagreements about the composition of the audience will likely be the sticking point.
“This will take time and a lot of good will,” Ramos said of the planning process. “We already had the first phone call. Let’s see what happens.”
A Fox News spokesperson confirmed that “the lines of communication are open with Mr. Ramos to take part in a larger discussion with the many families impacted by crimes committed by illegal immigrants, as discussed on-air last week.”
In some sense, Ramos and Hannity would be a natural pairing — both command massive television audiences and are adept communicators of their diametrically opposed positions on immigration. Ramos appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on Monday night for another combative debate on immigration, during which Carlson asked why he should take Ramos seriously considering that he votes in both U.S. and Mexican elections (as a dual citizen).
“Now, I do understand that Sean Hannity and Fox News have a different point of view than mine on immigration,” Ramos told THR. “But that’s precisely the point. We need to have this conversation, and apparently President Trump is watching Fox News.”
Ramos publicly sparred with Trump during the campaign and was ejected from a press conference with then-candidate Trump in August 2015.
