FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 24, 2012

Contact: María de Jesús Gómez, 559 455 5782 , chuyag@radiobilingue.org

Radio Bilingüe features exclusive interview with President Obama on jobs and immigrant families

In an exclusive interview with Radio Bilingüe to be re-aired Monday Feb. 27, U.S. President Barack Obama discusses crucial issues most important to Latino audiences, including his plans to address joblessness, foreclosures, immigrant family separations, and the DREAM Act.

The interview, interpreted into Spanish, first aired on Radio Bilingüe's airwaves and online platform on Tuesday Feb. 21 after Samuel Orozco, RB Director of National News and Information, spoke to the President from Radio Bilingüe’s studios in Oakland, California.  The rebroadcast of the interview will be aired on Monday, February 27, at 12 PM PST, on Línea Abierta, the Spanish-language interactive talk show for Radio Bilingüe’s national public radio network. Listeners will be encouraged to call in from throughout the nation with opinions and comments about the President’s response to Orozco’s questions.

Hugo Morales, Radio Bilingüe founder and Executive Director, said “This interview with President Obama confirms RB’s status as a vital source of national news and information and the platform for our nation’s leaders to engage with Latinos on pressing issues of the day. The questions posed by Samuel Orozco to the President are foremost in the minds of millions of Latinos.”

In the interview, President Obama said he will continue urging congress to pass the DREAM Act this year. "If you (Congress) can’t do the comprehensive immigration reform, at minimum we should be able to do the DREAM Act and we should be able to do it this year,” President Obama told Orozco.

In response to a question about the growing number of children of detained or deported parents who end up in foster care, President Obama said his administration will do "anything we can to prevent those (family) separations," instead placing a policy focus on "criminals who are preying on our communities," and not on "the man or woman … minding their own business and working hard every day."

The President also said Latinos stand to benefit the most from his mortgage refinancing plan and the recent housing settlement with major banks because Latino households were disproportionally targeted by subprime lenders and foreclosed upon by banks. The settlement money will thus be apportioned more “to Latino families who are trying to regain equity and keep their homes," the President said.

This special interview is part of a Radio Bilingüe comprehensive, multimedia series on Latino civic engagement around the country. Entitled "Hacia el Voto 2012," the Spanish-language series features political debates and campaign coverage on a wide array of crucial issues, from jobs, education and immigration, to voter protection and voter registration. The multiplatform coverage is funded in part by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

Radio Bilingüe is a national Latino-controlled non-commercial radio network and the prominent producer of Latino-oriented programming in public broadcasting.  Founded in 1977, Radio Bilingüe owns and operates seven FM public radio stations in California and a national satellite programming service, and is developing new stations for impoverished communities along the U.S. -Mexico border. In addition to Línea Abierta, Radio Bilingüe produces the daily Noticiero Latino and weekend Edición Semanaria, the only Spanish language newscasts in public broadcasting, featuring reports from journalists based throughout the U.S. and Latin America and carried by more than 100 affiliate stations nationwide. 

SATELITE RADIO BILINGÜE, owned and operated by RADIO BILINGÜE, INC., is the distributor of LİNEA ABIERTA, NOTICIERO LATINO and EDICION SEMANARIA. SRB's 24-hour programming is available through Galaxy 16 (KU-Band at 11916.4 MHZ) and through PRSS-NPR’s Content Depot.

LİNEA ABIERTA toll-free call-in lines are: 800-345-4632 (U.S.) and, 01152 1(800) 010-2166 (MX) To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, please reply to this e-mail and put REMOVE in the subject line Tune into our web page  http://www.radiobilingue.org/

For further information, please contact María de Jesús Gómez at, 559-455-5782, chuyag@radiobilingue.org