Biden’s snub of the migrants camped out in the streets of downtown El Paso didn’t sit well with the Latino networks covering his first presidential visit to the Southern Border last Sunday - and it showed.
At Univision, anchor Borja Voces solemnly proclaimed that “many were expressing their dissatisfaction with this visit.” Colleagues at both Univision and Telemundo were equally annoyed.
“He failed to meet with them.” “He skipped the real chaos.” “The President of the United States did not get to listen to their requests nor did he stop by to see their harsh conditions firsthand.”
Take a look at this short compilation of several reports that aired over both networks from Sunday, January 8th, through Monday, January 9th, disapproving of Biden´s actions against their (potential) future viewers:
ALAN TACHER, UNIVISION: And just before arriving in Mexico, President Biden traveled to the southern border for the first time during his term; An opportunity that immigrants had waited for a long time. The big detail is that he failed to meet with them.
[...]
JULIO VAQUEIRO, TELEMUNDO: On his first visit, President Biden visited the border but had no contact with immigrants.
[...]
BORJA VOCES, UNIVISION: Many are expressing their dissatisfaction with this visit.
[...]
VAQUEIRO: Migrant families and children in El Paso lament that President Biden did not listen to them during his first visit to the border.
[...]
MARLENE GUZMÁN, UNIVISION: The over 400 migrants who are sleeping out in the open here on the streets of downtown El Paso are greatly disappointed that the president of the United States did not get to listen to their requests nor did he stop by to see their harsh conditions firsthand.
[...]
EDGAR MUÑOZ, TELEMUNDO: President Biden did not make any statements, nor did he have any contact with the immigrants.
[...]
ARANXTA LOIZAGA, TELEMUNDO: What do migrants say knowing that the president went to the border wall, was in other parts of the city, but did not go to them?
[...]
MARLENE GUZMAN, UNIVISION: And this first presidential visit to the border has been strongly criticized because they say that the president skipped the real chaos, the humanitarian crisis, the real difficulties that are being experienced here.
[...]
MUÑOZ: Two senior officials in the Biden administration told NBC News that the President did not meet with migrants on his trip because there was no one to process them at the center.
The Latino nets downplayed the migrant clean-up that preceded the border town presidential photo-op / pit-stop. Instead, they focused on the migrants they said are “in limbo” (illegally in the country). Furthermore, Telemundo played White House press office and relayed the Administration's official excuse for the snub; “that the President did not meet with migrants on his trip because there was no one to process them at the center.” HARDLY!
The networks also kept their lips sealed about the irony of Biden and company (Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Democratic U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar and Henry Cuellar, among others), parading along the wall that president Donald Trump built, and which shielded the heavily guarded entourage from… yes, the migrants. It appears that some things are better left unsaid at the Hispanic news networks, especially when inconvenient.
CVS is one of the advertisers that sponsors the bias at the nation's Spanish-speaking press. You can call them out here.
