The Politics of Univision

Lou Dobbs and Mickey Kaus will get the heebie-jeebies, but Univision is using its massive media clout to get eligible Hispanic immigrants to get citizenship and get registered. Money WSJ quote:

The citizenship drive began in January, when Univision's largest station -- Los Angeles's KMEX 34 -- began bombarding Southern California airwaves with a campaign designed to steer eligible viewers to become U.S. citizens.

The impact was immediate: In Los Angeles and surrounding counties, the number of citizenship applications filed to the U.S. government more than doubled for the three months ended March 2007 compared with the same period last year. It typically takes six or seven months for green-card holders to complete the citizenship process.

Now, the campaign is spreading quickly to big cities including Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix. After the yearlong campaign is complete, a second phase is slated for 2008 that will focus on getting the new citizens to register to vote.

"I have never seen anything like it in my career. It's big," said Jane Arellano, a 39-year veteran of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who is district director in L.A.

If a strongly anti-illegal candidate wins the Republican nomination, and if he alienates many Latino voters, the 2008 momentum for the Democrats could get stronger.