Translation of Spanish-language Marco Rubio interview on amnesty rattles supporters

As GOP presidential hopefuls scramble to promote their political platforms and distinguish themselves from other candidates, plenty of conservatives were alarmed to see a story on Breitbart.com about Marco Rubio’s support for President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on the basis that “there are already people benefiting from it.”

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That translation of Rubio’s interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos, provided by media service Grabien, set off a number of alarm bells with potential Rubio supporters.

Never trust a weak translation http://t.co/cdhnk3dVRR

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 19, 2015

"Tostada." – Every far right reaching news outlet.

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) April 19, 2015

My pal @rumpfshaker offers a diff take on Rubio. Glad to hear it cuz I want to learn to like him again! @hughhewitt https://t.co/gXRxui66C1

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) April 19, 2015

@KurtSchlichter @cathbysgod @hughhewitt Actually, this is what he said: http://t.co/WXZC7hbThu (via @rumpfshaker)

— Alex Kauffman, D.D. (@alexkauff) April 19, 2015

@KurtSchlichter @hughhewitt Rubio’s people saying his remarks were mistranslated http://t.co/hqrmy3NkxV link via @rumpfshaker

— demonsheep (@demonsheep) April 19, 2015

Rubio Affirms He'll End Obama's Executive Amnesty; Univision Interview Mistranslated #latism #sayfie #flapol #FITN http://t.co/N5nSH4wnY0

— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) April 19, 2015

In another follow-up for Breitbart, Sarah Rumpf writes:

“In case anything was lost in translation, he believes we have to fix our broken immigration system in a series of smaller bills, starting with border security and enforcement, then modernizing our legal immigration system, and then eventually dealing with the illegal immigrants living here,” said [Rubio spokesman Alex] Conant.

…

A source close to Rubio who is a native speaker of Spanish told Breitbart News that the word “important” is being taken out of context, and that Rubio was not saying that DACA was important, but that his approach not to cancel the program immediately was an important concept. In other words, the word “important” belongs to the phrase that follows it, not the word “DACA” immediately preceding. This interpretation makes sense, since in the very next sentence and then repeatedly throughout the interview, Rubio says that the program must end.