The tribal mentality of Jorge Ramos.

Jorge Ramos, whom _The _Wall Street Journal__ has described as “Hispanic TV’s No. 1 correspondent and key to a huge voting bloc,” recently lamented how “sad” it is that “treacherous” Republican presidential candidates have fueled a “xenophobic discourse in the United States” by repeatedly launching “harsh attacks on immigrants.” These “attacks” include such transgressions as “label[ing] undocumented immigrants ‘illegal’,” “support[ing] the idea of building a wall along the southern border with Mexico,” and being opposed to “offering a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.” But “most incomprehensible for many Hispanics,” Ramos emphasized, “is that the two Latino candidates, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, have taken such a harsh stance against immigrants who are here simply because they’re doing the jobs that Americans won’t do.” He accused “both Rubio and Cruz” of “betrayal”; of “forgetting their own roots as children of immigrants”; and of having “broken a decades-long tradition in which Hispanic politicians, no matter their family origins or political affiliations, tended to defend the most vulnerable immigrants in this country.” Ramos cited Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velazquez as laudable examples of such politicians. You may recall that Gutierrez and Velazquez once led the way in pressuring then-President Clinton to free 16 convicted terrorists belonging to the FALN, a Marxist-Leninist paramilitary organization from Puerto Rico that had carried out 146 bombings during a 25-year period.

Putting aside the fact that Mr. Ramos’s characterization of the pro-amnesty Marco Rubio is nothing short of delusional, what is most significant about the broadcaster’s remarks is the fact that they are awash in an ugly, race-obsessed mindset that views the world entirely in terms of identity politics, tribalism, groupthink, collective guilt, and the bifurcation of society into victims and victimizers. At its essence, Ramos’s argument is nothing more than a call to racial/ethnic separatism—sticking up for one’s “tribe,” no matter what. The enforcement of existing immigration laws that have been constitutionally passed by Congress through the legislative process? Hey, that’s just a bunch of quaint, outmoded poppycock for Jorge Ramos and his ilk.

For the past 30 years, the Mexican-born Ramos has anchored the daily newscast Noticiero Univision. He also hosts a Sunday morning political show, Univision’s Al Punto. And he hosts the weekly Tuesday-evening news program _America with Jorge Ramos_ on Fusion television, targeting Latinos and young people. These programs give Ramos access to millions of Latino viewers each week. In short, Ramos is not some insignificant fringe lunatic; his many stupidities have attracted quite a large following. _Time_ magazine has included Ramos in its list of “The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States.” _Newsweek_ names him in its list of 50 leading political and media figures. And _Latino Leaders_ magazine chose him as one of “The Ten Most Admired Latinos.”

Though Ramos casts himself as a political independent, he’s about as non-partisan as Hillary Clinton. The same apparently holds true for his daughter, who works for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign. Over the years, Mr. Ramos has written several English-language books on the subject of immigration reform, including “In A Country For All: An Immigrant Manifesto. As The New Republic notes, Ramos in this book “mak[es] it clear that he wouldn’t accept anything short of citizenship—not even permanent legal residency—for the undocumented workers in this country.”

In June 2012 Ramos was angered by the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a provision in an Arizona statute authorizing state police to check the immigration status of suspected lawbreakers. According to Ramos, the Court’s “very disappointing and very dangerous” ruling heralded “a very sad day for the Hispanic community” and would “only create more persecution and discrimination” against nonwhite immigrants in the future. Seven months later, Ramos brayed that “the worst thing about America … is the racist and xenophobic attitudes that tend to emerge now and then—Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws, for example.” In other words, the enforcement of existing immigration law is “racist,” “xenophobic,” and “anti-immigrant.” Perhaps in the future, Mr. Ramos can also find a way to incorporate charges of “fascism” and “genocide” into his rhetorical arsenal against the rule of law. If nothing else, that would surely help spice up his arguments.

But for now, racism is the theme that Ramos feels most comfortable talking about. On multiple occasions, he has cited “the killings” of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin—three African Americans who died in highly publicized confrontations with non-blacks or police officers between 2012 and 2014—as “clear” evidence that “we don’t … live in a post-racial society,” and that the U.S. is rife with “white privilege.”

In January of last year, Ramos objected when some Republicans in the House of Representatives advocated a denial of funding for President Obama’s then-recent executive order granting millions of illegal immigrants immunity-from-deportation. “If Republicans had their way, more than four million undocumented immigrants would lose the protections President Barack Obama granted through an executive order in November,” said Ramos. “They would face deportation again. Latinos have no choice but to take this personally…. [Republicans] don’t seem to realize what a terrible message they are sending to Latinos: We are against you.” The fact that Obama had brazenly usurped, from a meek and pathetic Republican Congress, the legislative powers which the Constitution explicitly reserves for Congress alone, was meaningless to Ramos. For him, tribalism trumps the Constitution every day of the week, and every hour of the day.

The National Council of La Raza (Spanish for “The Race”) once honored Ramos with its “Ruben Salazar” award for his positive portrayal of Latinos. It is fitting indeed that Ramos should have been singled out for praise by an organization obsessed with promoting open borders, lawlessness, racial and ethnic division, and perpetual anger against a nation that is supposedly racist to its core. Those are precisely Jorge Ramos’s obsessions as well.