--- description: Obama's decision to give legal status to nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants was hailed as an affirmation of Latino power. title: Latin Grammys Hails Obama's Immigration Plan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf2777f13b8b8ff2/69876a35cd68484d6f098292/latin-grammys.jpg?branch=production ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Immigration](/tag/immigration/) ## Immigration Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Latin Grammy Awards Celebrates Obama's Immigration Plan by [Michael Scherer](/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 21, 2014 4:08 AM CUT  US-born Mexican singer-songwriter Pepe Aguilar performs during the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nov. 20, 2014. US-born Mexican singer-songwriter Pepe Aguilar performs during the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nov. 20, 2014.Paul Buck —EPA by [Michael Scherer](/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 21, 2014 4:08 AM CUT The 2014 Latin Grammy Awards were delayed by 17 minutes Thursday night so President Obama’s announcement on immigration could be carried live with Spanish translation on Univision. But that wasn’t the only impact President Obama had on one of the most-watched Spanish-language broadcasts of the year. From the first minutes of the show, his decision to give legal status to nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants was celebrated as an affirmation of Latino power. Host Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor and comedian, started off the theme in his opening remarks. Here is a translation: --- > “” --- That joke was segue to a bunch of more traditional award show one-liners. Later in the night, the theme continued when Spanish crooner Enrique Iglesias accepted the award for Song of the Year. He gave a shout out to the President’s actions in his acceptance speech. --- > “” --- Then Carlos Vives, a Colombian singer, accepted an award further into the show. “I want to dedicate this especially to President Obama,” he said at the end of his speech, holding up his golden gramophone trophy. The White House, which had scheduled the remarks to coincide with the Grammys, seemed pleased by the result. Shortly after Iglesias made his comments, the official White House Twitter account retweeted the news of his shout out. In 2013, 9.8 million people [watched](http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/11/22/14th-annual-latin-grammy-awards-reaches-9-8-million-viewers-and-makes-univision-a-top-3-network-for-the-night/217625/ "undefined") the Latin Grammy Awards on Univision, making the channel a top-three network for the night in the U.S. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/"},"headline":"The Latin Grammy Awards Celebrates Obama's Immigration Plan","datePublished":"2014-11-21T04:08:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:36:51.157Z","description":"A political moment turns into a cultural celebration on Spanish-language television","url":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/","keywords":["Immigration","Barack Obama","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf2777f13b8b8ff2/69876a35cd68484d6f098292/latin-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Scherer","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf2777f13b8b8ff2/69876a35cd68484d6f098292/latin-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"15th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards","caption":"US-born Mexican singer-songwriter Pepe Aguilar performs during the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nov. 20, 2014.","creditText":"Paul Buck —EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/","name":"The Latin Grammy Awards Celebrates Obama's Immigration Plan"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Enrique Iglesias Wins Song of the Year","description":"Enrique Iglesias Wins Song of the Year","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/43Ey0jV5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-21T03:00:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/43Ey0jV5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/","duration":"PT23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3598813/immigration-latin-grammy-awards-barack-obama/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```