Updated 07:27 AM EDT, Fri, Apr 19, 2024

Ben Carson's South Carolina Outreach Event Snubbed by Latinos

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No Latinos attended presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's outreach event dedicated to the community.

The event, which was held in Seneca, South Carolina on Wednesday, Aug. 26, only saw about 25 attendees, with almost all of them non-Latino, Fox News Latino reported. The only Latinos present are the business owner of the event's location and his son.

According to The Hill, Carson's initiatives for the issues Latinos face, such as the immigration system, are a contradiction with the community. Carson is opposed to U.S. President Barack Obama's executive action to provide deportation relief to certain undocumented immigrants. This action, which currently sits in the courts, was heavily supported by Latinos.

Carson also proposed undocumented people to self-deport to their home countries and reapply for a guest-worker program, The Hill added. He didn't address how he plans to remedy the economic havoc caused by a huge portion of the population leaving the U.S.

In an essay published for the National Review, Carson said that the border is "very porous" and that immigrants have "easy access to health care," adding that they come to the U.S. for "easy acquisition of public support through welfare programs."

Aside from these, Carson disagrees with same-sex marriage, an issue which majority of the Latino population supports, The Hill wrote. Latinos believe that climate change and global warming have serious consequences, whereas Carson thinks of the issues as "irrelevant" and are not a threat. He does not agree with government dependency as well.

Nevertheless, Gazette reported that some voters are in support of Carson. Real Clear Politics' election polls indicated that Carson comes in second (10.3%) at the Republican nomination poll, with Donald Trump leading at 23.5%. Quinnipiac University's poll conducted between Aug. 20 and Aug. 25 showed Trump at 28% and Carson at 12%.

"He's so refreshing compared to the typical politician," said Doloretta Barber, a volunteer for the Teller County Carson campaign in Colorado Springs, as reported by Gazette. "The typical politician says what he thinks people need to hear just to be elected."

In his appearance in Colorado, Carson recounted growing up in the ghetto surrounded by killings and gangs. He talked about his mother who worked three jobs and made her kids read books instead of watching television. This kind of story has a "compelling" effect to the audience, given that Carson is a man "who came from nothing" and then went on to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Gazette wrote.

"It was that can-do attitude that characterized the rise of the country," Carson told the crowd, as quoted by Gazette. "We can do it again. It's going to require that we all get involved."

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