Ruben Navarrette

DEI critics claim only White men are qualified, but Trump’s Cabinet tells a different story

February 10, 2025 at 12:21 p.m.

As a Mexican American journalist who had to struggle and work extra hard for the last 35 years to succeed in an industry that was built for others, I can’t...

Biden’s clemency for federal prisoners is only part of the story

December 28, 2024 at 6:01 a.m.

There are three things you need to know about the media and how they approach anything that is complicated. First, as storytellers, we’re drawn to the complicated. Second, as journalists,...

Mass deportations could save America, but not in the way you think

December 13, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Even as a Mexican American who s immigrants and opposes President-elect Donald Trump, I’m eager to see the incoming istration deliver on mass deportations. During a recent appearance on NBC’s...

The two parties are now officially one. And that’s not good news.

December 7, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

More evidence has just rolled in proving once again that the American people and the two major political parties that claim to represent them really do live on completely different...

Biden should pardon millions of undocumented immigrants — before Trump gets his hands on them

December 6, 2024 at 5:01 a.m.

What a strange time. Americans are embroiled in a heated national conversation about whether the phrase “rule of law” actually means anything as long as there are presidential pardons. And...

Latino voters have stern but different messages for each party

December 2, 2024 at 12:01 p.m.

Que pasa with Latino voters? I can’t shake that question. Just when I thought I had moved on, a curious public pulls me back in. It’s been nearly four three...

Trump’s planned tariffs show once again that he’s no Republican

November 30, 2024 at 6:01 a.m.

Since he entered politics, President-elect Donald Trump has been called lots of names. But there is one label that doesn’t quite fit, and it never has. Looking at his Cabinet...

How Marco Rubio ruined ethnic pride for me

November 24, 2024 at 6:10 a.m.

I knew this moment would come. But somehow, I thought it would feel bigger. And happier. As it is, I just feel sad. I’m like a disillusioned Michael Corleone tightly...

Mass deportations would be an ugly chapter for a nation that should have turned the page

November 16, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

It seems just about every American has an opinion about mass deportations. It’s too bad most of those views are so uninformed. I’ve been writing about immigration for 35 years,...

Left’s open contempt for Latino voters is itself contemptible

November 10, 2024 at 9:15 a.m.

Latinos are the pinata of the 2024 presidential election. So what else is new? I didn’t know who was going to win the 2024 presidential election, which seemed too close...

Los latinos enviaron un mensaje a los demócratas que pensaban que contaban con su apoyo incondicional

November 9, 2024 at 8:33 a.m.

¿Y Donald Trump obtuvo el 45% del voto latino? Lo creo

Latinos sent a message to Democrats: Don’t take us for granted

November 7, 2024 at 10:30 a.m.

Oye, Democratic Party, Latinos sent you a message. Did you get it? Former, and now also future, President Donald Trump has now set the high-water mark when it comes to...

¿Le afectarán a Trump las críticas a Puerto Rico durante su mitin? Sería una cuestión del karma

November 5, 2024 at 11:47 a.m.

Su discurso parece consistir en menospreciar a la gente

Will Puerto Rico-bashing come back to haunt Trump? It would be karmic.

November 4, 2024 at 1:01 p.m.

Gracias, court jester. You may have done the country a huge favor by helping defeat former President Donald Trump. Who could have known that the October surprise of the 2024...

CBS News punishes journalist for engaging in Journalism 101

October 15, 2024 at 10:05 a.m.

I’m Team Tony Dokoupil. And anyone in my profession who cannot say the same thing has forfeited the right to call themselves “journalists.” In 35 years on the job —...

After Oct. 7, Israel deserved more empathy than it got

October 7, 2024 at 5:16 a.m.

And so we arrive at the first anniversary of the hideous Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by thousands of Hamas terrorists on the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Let’s...

Will Sheinbaum really represent a break from AMLO?

October 4, 2024 at 10:30 a.m.

Is what’s happening in Mexico a miracle? Or a mirage? Now and then, I like to perform a wellness check on the old country. I go through the ritual to...

Trump comments on Jews unnerve this Mexican-American

September 24, 2024 at 3:45 p.m.

Twelve years ago, I returned from a life-changing trip to Israel with a priceless souvenir: an epiphany that Jewish Americans and Mexican Americans have a lot in common. Both have...

Don’t absolve Harris for the missing 320,000 migrant kids

September 22, 2024 at 5:01 a.m.

The Biden-Harris istration has united conservatives and liberals. Both are disgusted by how the Democrats have mishandled the U.S.-Mexico border — albeit for different reasons. A recent poll from Reuters/Ipsos...

This year, presidential voters seem less down on flip-flopping

September 15, 2024 at 8:16 a.m.

As if the 2024 presidential election didn’t have enough surprises, it now delivers something completely unexpected that we don’t see often in politics: a squishy electorate. Usually, it’s the politicians...

Ruben Navarrette | Wanted: more voices

July 29, 2019 at 7:01 a.m.

For years, people have told me to stop talking about race and ethnicity. That sort of dialogue, they warn, only divides Americans.Little did I know the real reason they wanted...

Ruben Navarrette | Is Duncan Hunter beyond redemption?

July 10, 2019 at 4:31 p.m.

Will Rogers never met a man he didn’t like. And, apparently, Duncan D. Hunter never took an oath he didn’t violate.The Alpine Republican congressman — whose personal and professional lives...

Ruben Navarrette: One mother’s story

December 25, 2018 at 5:24 p.m.

Two different facets of the immigration debate — birthright citizenship and the caravan of thousands of Central American refugees — have crossed.And at the center of that intersection is Maryury...

How working class white voters are the new soccer moms

September 7, 2016 at 7:17 p.m.

This Labor Day, I’m not feeling the least bit sympathetic for the supposedly beleaguered American worker.Give me a break. The United States is still the land of opportunity for those...

Why Donald Trump didn’t just flip-flop on immigration

August 27, 2016 at 4:30 p.m.

Did Donald Trump really just do a total flip-flop on immigration? No, I don’t believe he did. I think the elite media in New York and Washington are once again...

Donald Trump? Hillary Clinton? Or none of the above?

August 20, 2016 at 12:08 a.m.

What’s the matter with the major parties’ presidential candidates?No, seriously. I’m starting to think that these two aren’t wired right. Either they don’t have good advisers, or they’re not listening...

Why Mike Pence is a good person showing bad judgment

August 20, 2016 at 4:37 p.m.

Say it isn’t so, Mike.Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has won “Vice President Apprentice” and earned the dubious distinction of serving alongside Donald Trump on the Republican presidential ticket.I understand why...

Donald Trump protests send wrong message to Trump

August 21, 2016 at 7:27 a.m.

Dear Trump protesters:There are some things I’ve wanted to say to you for several months now, and I’ve decided to finally get them off my chest in this open letter.The...

25 life-changing things all graduates should know

August 21, 2016 at 9:06 a.m.

As they celebrate commencement at colleges around the country, graduates can expect to get the same gift: plenty of unsolicited advice from their elders.They’ll have to separate the useful from...

How Obama established ‘anti-immigrant credentials’

August 21, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.

Barack Obama plans to raise as much as $1 billion to build his presidential library in Chicago.I hope he puts in a “deportation wing.” It could be installed on the...

Clinton, Trump can’t keep their immigration promises

August 22, 2016 at 8:56 p.m.

People running for president say the darnedest things.In both parties, it appears that politicians save the biggest whoppers for their own ers. That makes sense. After all, they might butt...

How Obama set a Supreme Court trap with Brian Sandoval

August 23, 2016 at 2:04 a.m.

If President Obama were as good at leading as he is at playing political games and getting the best of hapless Republicans, the country would be in much better shape....

Ruben Navarrette: Democrats played dirty in Nevada

August 23, 2016 at 2:58 a.m.

In the 2016 election, the plotline for Latino Democrats is excitement followed by disappointment.The Nevada caucuses were supposed to be a coming-out fiesta for America’s largest minority. The Silver State...

Navarrette: Rubio no ‘boy in bubble’ as Christie says

August 23, 2016 at 6:31 a.m.

I hate to burst Chris Christie’s bubble, but he’s wrong about Marco Rubio having a soft and cushy path to this point. The Florida senator has walked through one minefield...

Ruben Navarrette: Donald Trump’s brand problem

August 23, 2016 at 7:04 a.m.

How do you say “poetic justice” in Spanish?You got me. The nativists who nest in both parties are wrong that Latinos aren’t learning English. More often, by the third generation,...

Ruben Navarrette: An “improper” chamber endorsement

August 23, 2016 at 7:45 a.m.

Have you ever heard of a national organization endorsing someone for vice president? Let alone doing so before voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other early states cast...

Ruben Navarrette: One father’s words of advice

August 24, 2016 at 1:52 p.m.

As we honor America’s dads, I’d like to offer my children some fatherly advice – which, in keeping with a long-standing family tradition, they’ll surely ignore.I won’t take it personally....

Ruben Navarrette: On immigration, Hillary vs. Hillary

August 24, 2016 at 4:16 p.m.

On immigration, Hillary Clinton is a work in progress – and has been since she entered politics more than a dozen years ago. Depending on which audience she is trying...

Ruben Navarrette: America the heartless

September 6, 2016 at 4:09 p.m.

Before it’s too late, Americans need to turn their attention back to the children.The lost children of Central America have themselves gotten lost in the fog of debate over what...

Ruben Navarrette: Is mob rule now the American way?

September 6, 2016 at 6:24 a.m.

Editor's note: For a different perspective on recent immigration developments, you can read Rep. Duncan D. Hunter's column here.This Independence Day weekend, memory takes me back to something my father...

Ruben Navarrette: Is mob rule now the American way?

September 6, 2016 at 6:24 a.m.

Editor's note: For a different perspective on recent immigration developments, you can read Rep. Duncan D. Hunter's column here.This Independence Day weekend, memory takes me back to something my father...

Columna: Rahm Emanuel no es ningun reformista de la inmigracion

September 5, 2016 at 12:05 p.m.

SAN DIEGO –Aún en el mundo surrealista de la política, encontramos a veces trucos efectistas tan cínicos y absurdos que resultan realmente ofensivos. Ése es el marco en que hallarán...

Columna: Estar en desacuerdo sin rencor

September 5, 2016 at 11:56 a.m.

SAN DIEGO – Hay un momento en que uno constata que está en desacuerdo con alguien en cuanto a un tema, pero aún está de acuerdo con esa persona en...

Grads, you are not victims

August 31, 2016 at 4:59 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Commencement speeches are part lip service and part lip biting. You feel you should tell the graduates how great they are and how the...

Arizona’s deteriorating image

August 31, 2016 at 4:00 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Several weeks ago, after a column critical of President Barack Obama, a woman wrote to say that she agreed with me. Then she said...

Defenders of AZ law: a rebuttal

August 31, 2016 at 3:39 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page If Arizona’s new immigration law is supposed to be the best thing since warm tortillas, why do ers have to prop it up by...

Why Arizona’s law is a hornet’s nest

August 31, 2016 at 3:00 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page A reader demands that the media stop pussyfooting around and call the new Arizona immigration law what it is: “The Mexican Removal Act.” Too...

The ragin’ Cajun and Obama

August 31, 2016 at 2:48 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Politics is an ugly and cynical profession with more than its share of phonies and opportunists who tell you what you want to hear...

Too many sermons on immigration

August 31, 2016 at 2:17 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page For many Americans, the only thing that makes them angrier than having illegal immigrants stream in from Mexico is getting a lecture from the...

What she should have told McCain

August 31, 2016 at 1:58 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Appearing recently before a Senate committee, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was grilled by a fellow Arizonan, Sen. John McCain. The 2008 Republican presidential...

Obama again disappoints the left

August 31, 2016 at 1:31 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Some on the left have been quick to criticize Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as not being liberal enough for their taste. And yet...

What is it about Arizona?

August 31, 2016 at 1:10 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Some states deal with Hispanic issues. Then there is Arizona, which has issues with Hispanics. Consider what officials in the Grand Canyon State have...

Patriots, or kids out of control?

August 31, 2016 at 12:40 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page I have no idea what five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., have in mind by way of career plans,...

Start with a little respect

August 31, 2016 at 12:19 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Republicans in Congress say the most preposterous things about illegal immigration. In fact, they could use a tutorial on how to talk about border...

Clueless on immigration

August 30, 2016 at 11:49 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Just in time for Cinco de Mayo – or as President Barack Obama mistakenly referred to it at a White House reception last year...

Punting, again, on immigration

August 30, 2016 at 11:30 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Americans expect some degree of manipulation by Congress. Even so, the politicking over immigration reform has set a new standard in this election year....

Citizens, but still on probation

August 30, 2016 at 10:58 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page It’s a common case of mistaken identity – and a running joke among upper middle-class Latinos. There are many stories, but here’s just one....

Fresh air amid the static

August 30, 2016 at 10:38 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page When the talk turns to immigration, Eric Hogue is an anomaly – a conservative radio host who won’t feed his audience red meat.Instead, he...

Unions that don’t learn

August 30, 2016 at 10:05 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Teachers unions need a hug. After all, they’re having a really bad year.So bad that their are lashing out – blasting Education Secretary...

Arizona a state of hypocrisy

August 30, 2016 at 9:44 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page In the late 1990s, I took a job writing for a newspaper and moved to Arizona.At least I think it was Arizona. The place...

A double standard in heritage

August 30, 2016 at 9:09 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page As someone who writes often about immigration issues, I’m accustomed to hearing readers complain about those who insist on looking backward and obsessing over...

The jobless lifeboat is leaking

August 30, 2016 at 8:44 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Senate Republicans are once again going to extreme measures to force a national conversation about fiscal discipline. In a dramatic turnaround from the years...

Obama beats Bush on deportations

August 30, 2016 at 8:11 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page A lot of immigration advocates who voted for Barack Obama got less than they bargained for.Either because Democrats have a reputation for being progressive...

Grading Obama on school reform

August 30, 2016 at 7:52 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page As one of the chief architects of No Child Left Behind, Sandy Kress wishes that when it comes to education reform, President Barack Obama...

A call for clarity, honesty

August 30, 2016 at 7:25 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page What’s gotten into Lindsey Graham?The Republican senator from South Carolina has been working with New York Democrat Chuck Schumer to achieve what Graham calls...

With friends like this who needs …

August 30, 2016 at 7:06 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page The dust-up with Israel has some folks wondering if the Obama istration is going out of its way to be unfriendly to America’s friends.Add...

Grading Obama on the curve

August 30, 2016 at 6:37 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Just when you thought race relations couldn’t get more interesting, we learn that, for some African-Americans, a black president is a mixed blessing.My old...

Immigration: Congress gets the sequel

August 30, 2016 at 6:16 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page The immigration debate is back. And it’s hard to find anyone who is pleased to see it return.Not Democrats, who see the immigration issue...

A system out of control

August 30, 2016 at 5:46 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Call to action View more Call to action articles.In California, the criminal justice system’s method of dealing with sexual predators who harm or even...

Professor Gonzales’ critique

August 30, 2016 at 5:27 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Some civil libertarians have finally figured out that on the question of how President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism policies compare to those of George W....

We’ve been down this road before

August 30, 2016 at 4:55 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Just when you thought the health care debate couldn’t get any more bizarre, it sures expectations.Now a Republican senator is drawing parallels with the...

Turning rage into action

August 30, 2016 at 4:34 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Like most in the San Diego area – especially those of us who are parents – I’ve spent the last few days processing the...

Racist ‘cookout’ pollutes UCSD

August 30, 2016 at 4:03 p.m.

You would think a half-century would be enough time for college students to grow up and put away childish things. At this point, I’d settle for them accepting a concept...

Food stamps, e-cards and dependency

August 30, 2016 at 3:44 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page At the intersection of the nanny state and the welfare state is a bill in the California Legislature that would make it easier for...

In Texas, the politics of nuttiness

August 30, 2016 at 8:13 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page If you think a little thing like entertaining the preposterous theory that the U.S. government toppled the Twin Towers would end someone’s candidacy for...

Fright night on the left

August 30, 2016 at 7:48 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page With the midterm elections approaching, liberal Democrats have a simple strategy for reaching out to Latino voters: fear and loathing. The idea is to...

Israel’s demographic obsession

August 30, 2016 at 7:19 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a wise choice when he named Michael Oren as his country’s ambassador to the United States. With his...

The voters are angry

August 30, 2016 at 7:01 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page President Barack Obama’s political stock is plunging. But not everyone is ready to accept it.A recent story about the findings of a new Washington...

Denying the dream of an ‘American’

August 30, 2016 at 6:34 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Never mind baseball. The real national pastime is talking down illegal immigrants. We depict them negatively, crudely and simplistically. We see them as criminals,...

Flunking on education reform

August 30, 2016 at 6:17 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page President Barack Obama had been getting high marks in his first year in office for what seemed to be an insightful approach to education...

GOP upstaged on its own turf

August 30, 2016 at 5:47 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page President Barack Obama’s give-and-take with House Republicans at the GOP retreat in Baltimore was refreshing, interesting and informative.Yet, for me, the whole exercise was...

A missed opportunity on profiling

August 30, 2016 at 5:30 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page I, for one, would like to have seen President Barack Obama condemn racial and ethnic profiling in his lengthy and otherwise far-reaching State of...

When reporting is dead-on

August 30, 2016 at 4:58 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Part of being a Latino columnist is getting unsolicited travel advice. Disgruntled readers will often tell me to “go back to Mexico,” even though...

A chance for immigration reform

August 30, 2016 at 4:41 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Sometimes conventional wisdom is wrong.That’s how it is with the assumption that Republican Scott Brown’s victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate...

This time the joke is on Leno

August 30, 2016 at 4:12 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Never mind pictures. Sometimes, a joke is worth a thousand words.Take this recent zinger from Conan O’Brien: “I just want to say to the...

The governor changes tune

August 30, 2016 at 3:52 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Et tu, Arnold?California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is usually a kinder, gentler Republican when it comes to immigrants. So what a shame that Schwarzenegger would,...

Harry Reid’s ‘unfortunate’ comments

August 30, 2016 at 3:30 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page If Harry Reid’s defenders are right that he was really doling out compliments, then I sure don’t want to be around when he starts...

The high price of bravado

August 30, 2016 at 3:21 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page As we have seen, bravado is not exclusive to any political party. Republicans and Democrats can both get carried away and say things they’ll...

Here is an app for civil disobedience

August 30, 2016 at 2:52 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Want to cross into the United States illegally while keeping track of the location of the nearest water station and the distance to your...

Brat-pack parents strike back

August 30, 2016 at 2:34 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page After recently criticizing bratty students at the University of California for protesting a fee hike because they’d rather have taxpayers subsidize their educations, I...

It really ought to be ‘illegal’

August 30, 2016 at 2:13 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Those on the pro-immigrant left have shown considerable courage in taking on Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Minutemen vigilantes, border walls and an...

The grinch who stole immigration reform

August 30, 2016 at 1:38 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Just in time for Christmas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given Latino voters a valuable gift: clarity.So much of politics is masked in smoke...

Immigration debate no one is ready for

August 30, 2016 at 1:21 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page With the nation’s jobless rate at 10 percent and six applicants for every opening, you might think this is the worst possible time for...

Growing up in America, as Americans

August 30, 2016 at 12:57 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page For more than two centuries, part of being an American has often meant struggling to be something else.No offense intended. It’s not that people...

Harry Reid deep in the mud

August 30, 2016 at 12:39 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page Move over, Clint Eastwood. The Senate has its own Dirty Harry. When it comes to ham-handedly exploiting the sensitive and divisive issue of race...

Parties in role reversal over Afghanistan

August 30, 2016 at 12:12 a.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page President Barack Obama is absolutely correct to respond to the conflict in Afghanistan by sending more troops. Yet in light of the reaction of...

Obama in punt formation on immigration

August 29, 2016 at 11:53 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page The paradox of the Obama istration’s plan to achieve comprehensive immigration reform – one of these days, when it gets around to it, be...

Tiger Woods’ privacy problem

August 29, 2016 at 11:29 p.m.

Related story Woods' statement: Says he let family down   Email Ruben   Staff page Some truths are counterintuitive. In business, you have to spend money to make money. In...

It’s Obama vs. civil liberties ers

August 29, 2016 at 11:12 p.m.

It’s time for liberals to make a choice. They can the Obama istration. Or they can civil liberties. But they can’t do both at the same time.The tension...

UC protests: brats at the gates

August 29, 2016 at 10:49 p.m.

  Email Ruben   Staff page When the make-love-not-war generation finally got around to having kids, they were so proud of their accomplishment that they fawned over the little darlings...