When Jorge Ramos does book signings for his recently released memoir, "No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home," his reception sometimes rivals that of a rock star.

People bring their children to see the Mexican immigrant to the United States who started off in this country as a waiter and became anchorman for one of the largest nightly newscasts in the country, the Spanish-language "Noticiero Univision" or "Univision Television," which he has anchored for 18 years.

Ramos has traveled to more than 60 countries and has covered five wars, including El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was there when the wall fell in Berlin and when the towers fell in New York. He has interviewed world leaders, such as President George W. Bush and Subcomandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatista guerrillas in Mexico. When Fidel Castro tried to put his arm around Ramos' shoulders, he refused it. President Bush gave Ramos his first interview in office. He has received seven Emmy Awards and the Maria Moors Cabot Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Ramos will be visiting Barnes & Noble in Winston-Salem on Saturday. The event is sponsored by The Hispanic League of the Piedmont Triad and Barnes & Noble.

Why are you coming to Winston-Salem?

The myth is that there are no Latin Americans in North Carolina or Michigan or places like this. The truth is that Latino growth is being seen everywhere. This is affecting everything, from the work force to mass media to books in Spanish.

What kind of response do you get at signings?

There were about 3,000 people in Houston, 800 in Sacramento. What's happening is that, since I'm a newscaster, people are seeing me at 6:30 Eastern time on TV, and at the signings, it's a first opportunity to see someone who has been on the air for 20 years. I can get feedback, especially in North Carolina, where we hardly visit.

This phenomenon of books in Spanish is taking the country by surprise. Fifty million books in Spanish were sold last year. It's an interesting characteristic of Latinos, despite the fact that many Latinos are assimilating very rapidly: nine out of 10 Latinos still speak Spanish at home and read in Spanish. That's 30 million people, and they are pretty much in touch with their country of origin and still identify themselves with their country of origin. If you ask someone who was born in Miami her nationality, she might say Cuban. If you ask me, I'd say I'm Mexican.

What is your role as a Spanish-language journalist in the U.S.?

I have two very specific roles: one, as a newscaster for the fifth-largest network in the U.S. Noticiero Univision is bigger than CNN, MTV, Fox News. We get much higher ratings than ESPN and Nickelodeon. I have to inform the community and the Hispanic community on what's important for us and what's going on on a daily basis.

My second role is as an immigrant and maybe as a role model. I have a very simple message: If I made it, you can make it. I came as an immigrant to this country in 1983.

My first job was as a waiter. People know this story. If I was able to go from waiter to anchorman, then others can do exactly the same thing. When people go and see me at the bookstore, some people bring their children and point at me. They might be saying: "Look, he was an immigrant, and he succeeded in this country." The U.S. gave me the opportunities that Mexico couldn't give me. I would've been a very poor, frustrated journalist in Mexico.

Do you ever want to go back to Mexico to live?

I guess I think about it all the time. There's not a single day I don't think about it. I have two children, and they were born in the U.S. It's not only my problem. Many Latinos have this problem of identity. On my best days, I think I'm from both countries. I can be from both and be very comfortable. Most Latinos will tell you that. This is a dichotomy many Americans cannot understand.

What inspired you to leave Mexico for the U.S.?

I left Mexico for two reasons. The first was because of censorship. My first report for a paper was censored because it criticized the president. The second reason was that I wanted to travel all around the world and be a journalist, be a witness to history. I knew if I stayed in Mexico, I wouldn't have economic opportunities to do that. I've been to about 60 countries, interviewed presidents. It was a tough choice.

Have you encountered censorship as a journalist in the U.S.?

This is a country where we have complete freedom of expression. I was concerned that after 9/11, that any questioning of the government could be labeled anti-American and anti-patriotic. I was concerned that many journalists felt pressure to align themselves with the Bush administration. I think many journalists self- censored themselves because of social pressure. It's very different than Mexico, where censorship came directly from the government to the network to the journalist. Even though I cannot call it censorship here in the U.S., I felt pressure. I'm amazed to see how many Democratic congressmen decided not to criticize Bush after 9/11, but now they are changing their position. I think there's a shift now.

Is this country doing enough to help Hispanic immigrants?

I don't think so. I think much more has to be done in this country. Most Latinos will tell you that they have experienced discrimination in this country. One out of every three do not finish high school. Latinos live more under the poverty level than any other group in this country. We're 13 percent of the population, but we have no judge in the Supreme Court and only one governor: Bill Richardson in New Mexico. We don't have the political representation that we deserve, and we lack many leaders to represent us. We're behind in many social issues.

What do you believe should be the U.S.'s policy towards the immigration of Latin Americans?

The U.S. needs comprehensive immigration reform. The status quo cannot stand anymore because of many different reasons. The U.S. has been unable to stop immigration from the border. I would support amnesty for around 10 million undocumented immigrants living in this country. It is a shame that there are 10 million people living in the shadows, despite the fact that they contribute billions of dollars to the economy. Every day, 1,000 immigrants cross the border illegally or they overstay their visas. Many die at the border.

If immigrants are not legal residents, they can be exploited. Every single American takes advantage of the work of undocumented immigrants. The fact is that we need immigrants to pay Social Security. The question is how to legalize them. Latinos are so concerned about this issue because seven out of 10 Latinos are either immigrants or sons or daughters of immigrants.

The first line of your book is: "I do not feel at home. Never. Anywhere." How do you define "home" now?

Home is probably wherever I am, whenever I'm surrounded by my son, daughter and my wife. But it is very difficult to feel at home in Mexico when I go back since I haven't been there for the last 20 years. When I'm traveling in the U.S., sometimes I look around and say, "Maybe I'm not accepted as just another member of this country." Sometimes I get the sense that I'm not completely accepted in either country. My condition as an immigrant has helped me to understand enormously the condition of immigrants to the U.S.

Considering the time limitations of television, how much of the news are you able to cover?

I always say that whoever gets his or her news from TV only is not well-informed. I think we need many sources of information to get what's going on. Sometimes I feel very frustrated by time limitations on TV. We have only 22 minutes to tell viewers what's going on. ... In our newscast, at least 50 percent comes from Latin America. Our vision of the world is much wider than NBC or CBS. For us, international news is sometimes local news, and we were covering international news even before it was fashionable to do so after 9/ 11, and that's why our newscasts get better ratings than other networks'. ...

That's due to two things. One is the growth of the Spanish population, and the second is that we are providing news they can't get from any other network. None of the networks will report today that the president is about to fall in Bolivia [he resigned Oct. 17].

You have been in some very dangerous situations as a journalist. What do you believe has been the most dangerous and how have you survived?

I think to go to Afghanistan was very stupid. The network didn't want to send a correspondent to Afghanistan, and I decided to go on vacation and go alone. At some point, one of the guerrilla members that was supposed to take care of me told me he was a follower of Osama and pointed his gun at me. I told him, if you take care of me, I'll take care of you. I gave him 15 one-dollar bills, and he thought it was a lot of money. He'd never seen a dollar before. He let me go unharmed. That was the closest I've been to being hurt or killed. It was not very intelligent of me to go alone.

You have seen so much destruction as a journalist - dictatorships, the events of Sept. 11. How do you think this has influenced your world view?

I've been fortunate enough to visit almost 60 countries, to cover five wars. At the beginning, I had to detach myself emotionally from all these events because otherwise it would have been impossible to cover all these events: Iraq, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the arrival of democracy in Mexico. All these events leave an emotional scar. I cannot tell those emotional experiences on TV, and that's why it's important to write because books compensate for the lack of time and emotion on TV.