Rep. Joe Kennedy III addressed DACA recipients in Spanish during his response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for him, the liberal base may have found his attempts to be more offensive than they were honorable. People pointed out his lack of fluency and the obvious attempt to pander to immigrants.

Multiple people noted that it could be “condescending” to assume that DACA recipients do not speak English and need to be addressed in Spanish.

“News alert: dreamers speak more English than Spanish,” Father Jonathan Morris tweeted. “They came here as kids.”

The fact that Mr Kennedy chose to speak Spanish to dreamers comes across as condescending and ignorant. News alert: dreamers speak more English than Spanish. They came here as kids. https://t.co/8Z21WlzRRN — Fr. Jonathan Morris (@fatherjonathan) January 31, 2018

“Rep. Joe Kennedy III speaking 2 Dreamers n Spanish…implies #DACA recipients don’t speak English,” NPR host Sam Sanders wrote. “That’s a patronizing falsehood.”

Rep. Joe Kennedy III speaking 2 Dreamers n Spanish during #SOTU response implies #DACA recipients don’t speak English. That’s a patronizing falsehood; they’ve been here since they were kids.

In fact, for ALL U.S. Latinos, English is UP, Spanish DOWN. https://t.co/MhmYNrCIOC — Sam Sanders (@samsanders) January 31, 2018

Joe Kennedy III:

oh look, it’s an adult who actually wants to do and *does* his job as a civil servant when speaking, what a concept.

Ok “Legacy”, you won me over…until you Tried Too Hard in spanish thinking it’s something that triggers Latin Vote reflexes.#SOTU #SOTUResponse — Moisés Chiullán (@moiseschiu) January 31, 2018

Joe Kennedy speaking in Spanish to tell immigrants that Democrats will fight for them when Dems literally abandoned Dreamers last week is peak Democrat lmao — Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) January 31, 2018

The danger of addressing Dreamers in Spanish is that it reinforces the idea that all Dreamers were born in Hispanic countries, erasing those who are AAPI or African. https://t.co/fLqMXhYHtf — Brian Latimer (@briskwalk) January 31, 2018

Also, not all dreamers are from Spanish speaking countries. The one thing they have in common? No, they are not all soldier-hero-first responder-teachers. No, they are all just Americans in legal jeopardy because of a technicality. https://t.co/BERAkEr3vS — Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 31, 2018

It also adds to the assumption that Latinx Dreamers speak fluent Spanish. The point is they were born in the US and primarily speak English. — Brian Latimer (@briskwalk) January 31, 2018

Not a slight. Dreamers come from all countries, most don’t speak parent’s language. It sounded awkward & “othered” Dreamers. Had he addressed parents in Spanish that he was fighting for them & their kids, would’ve landed better. It’s difficult to thread. https://t.co/Z8nIlGh0AS — María Teresa Kumar (@MariaTeresa1) January 31, 2018

Really appreciated @joekennedy‘s response to #SOTU. However, even though most DACA recipients are from Latin America, specifically Mexico, not everyone speaks Spanish. Let’s not forget undocumented Black, Asian and White DACA recipients and DREAMers. Inclusivity means just that. — Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) January 31, 2018

.@matthewstoller points out that the Dreamers—undocumented brought to this country as children—speak English. That they are culturally American & in many cases barely recall Spanish is part of why there’s so much controversy over deporting them. https://t.co/n7AKL8HCAz — Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) January 31, 2018

Others just complained that Kennedy’s Spanish-speaking ability was not top-notch.

My mom whose first language was Spanish is rolling on the ground about Kennedy’s Spanish. “His Spanish wasn’t good.” — Kirsten Fleming (@KirFlem) January 31, 2018

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