hispanic population crossed the 50 million mark in 2010 and people now represent the second largest group in the country. >> the united states is currently populated by 310 million residents. 50million of the 310 million are hispanic. 16% of the entire u.s. population. latinos, or hispanics, we use

these terms interchangeably, are now the largest demographic group in the country, seeded only by the white population. so says the u.s. cencus burrough in the 2010 u.s. cencus now reported on, which by the way has already cost the american taxpayer $14 billion. here are a few cencus factoids. item population growth, u.s. residents grew by 12 movie over the last 10 years, more than half of that growth by the way is hispanic. 15million! item, hispanic adults, one in every six adults is hispanic. item, hispanic children. one in every four is hispanic. item, public school students. 50% of the public school students in texas and california are latino. and there's more to the latino story. >> the story that 2010 cencus

is the rise of the latino south. >> in six states of the u.s. south the latino population in 10 years roughly doubled -- alabama, georgia, kentucky, north carolina, tennessee, and virginia. the hispanic population has also had big gains in midwestern states -- montana 58%, nebraska 77%, missouri 79%. question, what accounts for the high level of growth of the hispanic population? is it primarily birthrates or primarily incompetent gracious? pallet? >> it's both, john. even the illegal aliens who come to this country have 300 to 400,000 anchor babies every year, in the united states, who are now automatic citizens. the immigrants, hispanic immigrants, have a higher birthrate and immigration as well. john one thing that's important even throw they're 16% of the population, there were only

7.4% of the vote in 2008, whereas whites were 74%. but there's no doubt about it, the hispanics are getting more and more politically active. and quite frankly, i think we're reaching a tipping point in this country where the republican party will be unable to win a presidential election. and that will come when hispanics become basically the swing vote that swings the states of colorado, nevada, arizona, new mexico, and finally texas into the democratic ranks, and when techs goes, republicans won't be able to win the white house. >> eleanor. >> first of all, i don't think hispanics are automatically democratic. i think president george w. bush did very well with hispanics, and i think he won 44% of them. >> 40. >> 40%. so i don't think you can naturally assume that the republican party isn't going to get smart and start to figure out how to talk to this new emerging population. i think what the cencus figures told us is that the change in this country is accelerating,

that it's happening faster than we thought. i think we've become a majority- minority country in 2040 about 10 years earlier than we thought and pat speaks to older voters for the country as they knew it. and so there's some unease with these changes, but if we look at it through a political lens, there's great opportunity here, especially for the democrats, who do speak to hispanics and have been -- have not fall mean to the trap that republicans have of all of this using phrases like anchor babies, for one. it's not language that is amenable or friendly towards the emerging population. >> you know where the hispanics are coming from? >> from latin america, from mexico, up through mexico but all through central and south america. but this explosive demographic growth among hispanics in the united states is going to be

the political football for the next decade plus, because it is going to be the voting bloc that both sides are really going to fight for, as they should. because when you look at the black vote, that is essentially monolithic democratic vote. but the hispanic vote is less monolithic than the black vote is. barack obama won two-thirds in those poll numbers are starting to soften, not just towards obama but towards the democrats ic party. and hispanics tend to be more culturally conservative, values of hard work and faith and family. those are the kinds of things that the republicans really kneeled to put extra effort into, speaking to the hispanic community, saying your values are our values, and here's why. >> welcom . >> thank you. >> do you center any comments? want to agree or disagree? >> it's true that hispanic community is not as monolithic as the black community, but you have to look at also aspects of

the hispanic community which have nothing in common with each other. puerto ricans in new york have almost nothing in common outside of common language with cubans in miami. politically cubans in miami, i'm from miami, group there, and we know that cubans in miami have tend today vote republican in just about every election. dough men cons in new york, necks cans in texas, california, south americans also come here. vote very differently if they do vote and of course puerto ricans are u.s. citizens, so immigration is not an issue at all for them as it is not an issue for cubans, since under at jump. act cubans can come and stay legally and don't have to go through the hoops that other latinos have to go through. >> let's talk about the mexican- americans and all except the cubans. these folks by and large are poor, working class, lower middle-class, 47% of americans pay no taxes. but they get an enormous withouty of benefits. food stamps, rent supplements, you get medicare, free

education, so hispanics especially mexicans in the southwest are much more acclimated, big government people. and they're going to vote the government party. they voted between 60% and 70% in every election. >> i'm not going to let pat get away with that statement, 47% of the people don't pay taxes. they don't pay income taxes because they don't make sufficient income. they pay sales taxes, they pay social security, they pay lots of other things. they're not freeloaders in this country, pat. and this is a country of immigrants. and this is a new immigrant stream, and i think they're doing quite well getting acclimated, and i think because of their numbers, the burden is going to be on us to do a little acclimation here as well. >> but the distinction is between legal and illegal immigration, and those hispanics who have come to the united states legally do assimilate. those that cross the border come in illegally and don't necessarily do. that and tend to siphon themselves off and that's the problem. >> they're trying hard to do --

>> i agree with you. they do try hard. they do try hard. the parents maybe don't learn english but the younger generations do some have done better than white american u.s.- born. >> john mccain was pro amnesty, pro-immigration, anything you can name. he got 31 or 32% of the hispanic vote. >> question -- >> he walked way from all those views! >> will the growing hispanic population assimilate as readily into the american melting pot as earlier immigrant ways like the irish and the italians did? yes or no? >> took the irish almost a hundred years to do it, john. i think it's going to be more slowly because the culture -- >> do you? >> much more different. yes i do the even though the united states is -- >> the united states -- people are moving into enclaves, john, by race and ethnicity, all over this country. >> irish need not apply was the

sign in the window when this date nation was dominantly what, uk settled? >> no, this was dominantly british. >> right. >> but it took generations before the irish were -- >> because of the set into which they came! this setting today is different. >> john, take a look -- >> it's multi-cultural! it's multilingual. >> john, you got a multi- cultural -- >> go ahead. >> i don't think the wave of the future is racial and ethnic enclaves this this country. i think people are and will assimilate but i also think a lot more americans will learn to speak spanish, and i think that's a fine thing. >> again, i get back to the distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. legal immigrants that come from central and south america assimilated. they're grateful to be in the united states. they exercise their right to vote. the illegal immigrants and we've seen this over the past couple months, actually past couple years, any time there's a big demonstration in california or in the southwest, on behalf of illegal immigrants, they're all hoist

the mexico flag, there's less of an assimilation impulse among the illegals than heels [everyone talking at once] >> i think they will assimilate much more quickly. this is the age of facebook and twitter. this is the 21st century. >> it's different. >> of course it's different. this is not 100 years ago. >> we have a president whose two daughters speak pretty well spanish. >> and more americans speak spanish than ever before. >> and we issue two, patrona partnership. >> the world must now recognize latin america for the dynamic and growing region that it truly is. we're all americans. [speaking spanish] >> president obama last month visited with heads notably, fro

when mr. obama was in chile he delivered a major address to the latin american world. mr. obama praised the region for reversing its dictatorial authoritarians from chile and peru. >> virtually all the people of latin american, have gone from living under dictatorsships to living in democracies. across the region we see vibrant democracies from mexico to chile to costa rica. >> the president also praised the region for its economic reforms. >> having made tough but necessary reforms, nations like peru and brazil are seeing impressive growth. >> and growth going into the future. item, economic projection 2011 -- 4.5% growth. 2012, 4.6% growth. this makes latin america a

strong market of, of course, u.s. goods. item, history of consumption. latin america is the u.s.'s fastest growing trade partner. between 1998 and 2009, an 11- year period trade nearly doubled, up 82%. item, jobs. u.s. exports to the region are projected to support more than 2 million jobs here in the u.s. all of this signals, of course, the region's rising influence globably. >> countries like chile and brazil are now players on the international stage, and so our interaction is one of equal partners trying to solve  problems both in this hemisphere and also around the world. >> question, will the free trade agreement with columbia help or hurt obama's re- election prospects? larry? >> absolutely. i think it will help obama's re-

election prospects. president obama has made a stated objective of doubling united states' exports in the next five years, and latin america is one of the strongest areas of growth in the world right now. columbia is the second largest country in latin america -- in south american population, 45 million consumers. and we don't have a free trade agreement with columbia. >> problem with what you're saying is, imports are growing faster than ex ports, our trade deficit has gone from last year 500 billion, now running at 550 billion. >> yes, but -- >> imports are killing jobs faster than ex ports are creating them. >> that may be, but the united states is losing out because we don't have free trade with columbia, which is the result of which other countries like china can move right in and take that market share. >> what about that, pat? >> how big an economy is columbia? probably what, two or 3% of the united states. >> how big is china in latin america. >> enormously big but try to get into china's market with your goods!

>> that's beside the point because they need goods. china -- columbia right now connects export duty free to the united states, but we cannot export duty free to columbia so this helps the united states more than it helps columbia. we're punishing ourselves by not having a free trade agreement. >> we're getting access to these tiny markets and markets are getting access to the largest market -- >> columbia is not a tiny market. >> and the new america that we talked about it the earlier segment, latin america will have much more profound impact on this country culturally had economically in the same way europe designed us and the way or politics define us with israel. latin america will have a greater voice in our politics because they'll be a bigger part of our economics is as well. >> yes, absolutely right. the columbia free trade agreement is important not just economically but strategically. columbia is a great ally of the united states. it's ashame this free trade

pack was languishing in the senate as long as it was. thanks goodness there's another outstanding trade agreement that should be moved on and that's the panama free trade agreement as well. but you're absolutely right about china. china and -- chavez is playing a central role, reaching out to the chinese and iranians and russians. their influence now is growing in latin america. >> can you specify -- am -- >> go ahead, you're fine. >> what is china precisely doing? isn't it building that railroad that is supposed to compete with the panama canal and want a port south? >> let's separate those if we can. in the case of panama to the good point because unlike columbia, panama is a service economy. it does not have the labor issues, doesn't have the baggage, it doesn't have the leftist uprising, it doesn't have the paramilitary, it doesn't have any of that baggage that columbia has.

there's no good reason for the united states not to have free trade with panama. in keeping with that, the panama canal is in the midst of a something like a $10 billion expansion right now. china is key to that expansion. the united states will lose out if -- >> also want to build a railroad across columbia compete with the panama canal [everyone talking at once] >> that's a land route, yes. >> but china stepped in when hugo chavez was in trouble and gave him $20 billion. where is china getting these billions of dollars? it's investing in resources in latin america, all overred world, from us at wal-mart! because their goods are pouring into this country. they sell 7 times as much to us as we sell to them. >> whose fault is that? >> well, the united states in a way has neglected latin america for many years. >> yes. >> we didn't pay attention and to what was going on. which is why what you say is correct. china has -- not just china,

india also signed trade agreements with brazil. many latin american countries have established embassies in india because they're also growing. >> i want to commend you on the cuban news, which you -- this is your newsletter, and also diplomat. >> thank you. >> getting increasingly -- it's always been popular but everybody talks about it in the diplomatic community. alan gross sentenced to 15 years and may sue his ex- employer. who is alan gross? >> alan gross is a subcontractor for the u.s. agency for international development. >> why is he been jailed in cuba? >> well, that's a good question. alan gross was jailed supposedly under the cuban government for interfering in state affairs. >> get back from cuba, he tried to get on release and was -- it was rejected outright. >> i think jimmy carter made the point before he went down there that it was not his objective. he would try but didn't expect to come back with him. >> wasn't he trying to get communications equipment to them so they could communicate with the americans? >> no --

>> to the jewish community there so they could communicate. >> well. >> and he had a contract with aid. >> accused of spying, basically. >> i know he has. >> he's not accused of spying. nobody in cuba thinks he's a spy. he's been accused of interfering and helping destabilize the difference. there's a difference. spying carries the death penalty. and the cuban government doesn't care what he does with the jewish community. maybe 600 to a thousand jews in cuba. he doesn't care about that. >> you think the united states is wise in maintaining cuba along with iran, sudan and syria as a state sponsor of terrorism? >> absolutely not. there's no good reason for cuba to be on that terrorist list. >> do you agree with that? >> i tend to agree to lift the embargo. >> this is -- [everyone talking at once] >> cuba has done a lot of spying here, but i don't know of any recent acts of terror against the united states. >> you want to lift the embargo -- >> would you start lifting the embargo, would you get prisoners released in exchange,

and some benefits for us, but i would lift it, yeah. >> yes. would you too. the notion that this all in 90 miles from our shore that we're keeping this boot on it, while everybody else is in there and investing is -- >> even more you have north korea was taken off that lists, libya was taken off that list. what does cuba have in common in with iran, syria? >> at this point, to have cuba on the terrorism list is really inappropriate and should be changed. but 17 years ago president nixon shortly before he died was the highest ranking american who called for the rolling back of the embargo, lifted the embargo, because he believed and it's the same philosophy as the approach to china, which is if there's economic liberalization that will lead to -- >> good question. what phrase best describes a level of importance of mr. obama's latin american diplomacy? a routine goodwill tour? this is one of your visited

latin america. pat, to refresh your recollection because that's fading, or was it of strategic importance? >> it was basically business as usual. he's got to maintain a hand in there. he went down there to do so. >> china is in there, don't you understand? think he's dropping in one day is going to change? >> no but de -- >> it's about winning the future to use his phrase and a lot of people watched his trip on univision so it has political impact and growing economic impact. >> this administration better be a lot more engaged in latin america because chinese have a long head start in being engaged in not just economicically but straw teenage licki hugo chavez, iran and russia. >> it's important and and look at the countries he didn't > issue three, secret weapon! >> the problem i just got elected three months ago, so how i can an a full-time united states senator if my eye is

already on running for something else? i'm not running for president in 2012. >> florida republican senator marco rubio says no for 2012. but many republicans are hoping he says yes. observers believe the cuban american republican from miami can breck the democratic chokehold on latreeno voters! either as the vice presidential or even presidential candidate on the republican 2012 ticket. democratic 2008 candidate barack obama garnered 67% of the latreeno vote. republican 2008 candidate john mccain, 32%. obama is president today. question, what is the g.o.p.'s best hope of being able to compete for hispanic votes in the future? eleanor? >> i think they have to learn how to relate to the entire hispanic community or else they are going to be destined to be a minority party. but, looking short-term to

2012, everybody will think about putting in an hispanic in the number two spot in addition to marco rubio you have the governor of new mexico, susannah martinez who will be mentioned. >> and that kinds of symbolic politics doesn't automatically -- >> make this point, can you speak to him? >> the governor of nevada -- he's also -- hispanic and he is republican. but that kind of politics doesn't automatically work. i keep going back to geraldine ferrarro who we lost recently, when walter mondale put her on the ticket he thought women would flock the ticket. ronald reagan won women that year. a so it's got to be about a change in tone and attitude towards this population. >> it's got to be the republicans really have to get their act together and put in an effort to speaking to the hispanic population in the united states if they're going to have any hope of reaching them and getting their votes. and that is they talk to them

about similar values, self- reliance, independence from the government. in other words, not being dependent on the government. they're very socially conservative. in california when the gay apparently proposition came up last time the two blocs that defeated that proposition were african-americans and hispanics. so the republicans do have the momentum behind them in terms of ideology, philosophy and values, but they need to be able to make their case and they haven't done it quite so far. marco rubio is a great spokesman for it. >> in california exactly right, hispanics voted 50% against gay marriage, african-americans voted 70% against gay marriage. >> and come on -- >> 70% for obama -- [everyone talking at once] >> agree on special cultural and moral issues and economic interests, they vote democrat sneak in fact rubio has come out very much in favor of the arizona immigration law. i think if republicans want to

get hispanic vote, they have it talk about immigration reform in a way that's going to appeal to hispanics. >> how is that? you mean the dream act? >> yes. >> what's the dream act? >> the dream act which allows children of people who came here illegally to stay here legally and have a real future. >> these are people who were essentially born her 0 and who are americans in every way. >> so a path to citizenship. >> and rubio is a cuban american born in miami. >> if you make them all 20 million illegal aliens, make them all legal, those first- time voters go some cases 90 to 10 democratic, increasing the democratic electorate. >> you can see it -- as aes series of continents. you can see it as a cluster of countries. and you can also see it as obama like a judgment call on

this, i think obama is beginning to look at the planet hemisphereically and we have a hemisphere here -- i wouldn't be surprised if he pulls canada and increases that sense. you sense that going on? >> i think barack obama is our first president who has one foot in the south, if you will, and hemisphereically, southern hemisphere, and one foot in the north. >> you like out