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America Ferrera Makes A Major Claim About Sanders

by Emily Shire

Update: Questions about whether or not America Ferrera's claim about Bernie Sanders supporters was true surfaced immediately after the initial allegations. Snopes, a rumor research website, declared Ferrera's claim to be "False" after video of the event was posted online. It appears that what reportedly happened was that Huerta offered to translate and that a moderator was the one who said "English only" because there was no neutral party to provide the translation.

Earlier: On Saturday, the Nevada Democratic caucus resulted in a victory for Hillary Clinton, with multiple outlets reporting that the former Secretary of State was the winner. Shortly after Clinton's victory was declared, one of her most vocal and famous supporters, actress America Ferrera, alleged Bernie Sanders supporters chanted racially charged remarks during a rally in Nevada. Ferrera took to Twitter to claim that Sanders supporters at Harrah's casino had interrupted efforts by civil rights leader and Clinton supporter Dolores Huerta to provide a Spanish translation with chants of "English only."

Huerta later elaborated on the allegation herself. Huerta tweeted on Saturday, "I offered to translate & Bernie supporters chanted English only! We fought too long & hard to be silenced Si Se Puede!," followed by #ImWithHer, a hashtag of support for the Clinton campaign. Huerta claimed to ThinkProgress that Saturday morning at Harrah's casino, which was a caucus site, Sanders supporters thwarted her efforts to translate.

“The fellow that was running the caucus said that the first person to come up to the stage could translate, so I went up. Nobody else did,” Huerta told ThinkProgress."Then the Bernie people started yelling no, no, no. One of their people came up, and I suggested we both translate. But the moderator decided we would have no translation. So the Bernie people preferred we would have no translation just because I was going to do the translating. It’s ridiculous, because if I had said something that wasn’t accurate, I’m sure somebody would have corrected me.”

Sanders' camp has not officially responded to Ferrera's claims. While Huerta told ThinkProgress it was "really clear" the interrupters were Sanders supporters based on the way the room was set up for the caucus, it has not been confirmed whether the people who allegedly interrupted Huerta were actual supporters of Sanders.

According to news site Latino Rebels, a video of the alleged incident was posted on Facebook but then deleted. Buzzfeed's E. McMorris-Santoro tweeted, "regarding @AmericaFerrera tweet from earlier: I have confirmed that it happened from a source knowledgable."

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Ferrera has been in Nevada stumping for Clinton along with fellow actress, Eva Longoria. At a rally on Friday near the famed Las Vegas Strip, Ferrera appeared with Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton, as well as Longoria, to joke about how “I really think I’d like to Netflix and chill with Hillary,” and said "I have a strong feeling Hillary and I could be BFFs if you'd just give me a chance." ABC noted that during the rally, Ferrera noted she was both a millennial and a first-generation American.

Ferrera's endorsement may have provided a crucial edge for Clinton, whose victory in a state with a large Latino population proved to the Democratic party that "she maintains strong support among minority voters that she can carry to a general election," noted Amy Chozick and Patrick Healy at The New York Times. However, analysts are also noting that while Clinton secured a win, it was hardly a run-away victory. CNN reported that with 72 percent of the expected vote accounted for, Clinton was beating Sanders 52.2 percent to 47.7 percent.