Old habits die hard at Univision; to the standard practice of keeping what they consider damaging information from their audiences, especially when reporting on immigration, the Spanish-speaking network is adding a dash of the tired anti-Trump antics to spin what they formerly called illegal “tent cities” under Trump, now that Biden is reopening those facilities.
In a report that aired during the morning talk show Despierta America, anchor Satcha Pretto asked Univision immigration editor Jorge Cancino about the “major changes in terms of detention centers and much more”, in reference to the newly reopened holding facilities for unaccompanied minors crossing into the United States.
Despierta America
Thursday, February 25, 2021
SATCHA PRETTO: First, let's talk about the detention of immigrant children. There are major changes in terms of detention centers, and much more. Tell us about it.
CANCINO: The main thing about migrant children- the government is enabling detention centers for unaccompanied minors. It's a troubling step, but a legal step. The law says- the law stipulates that the government must process these children, have a process for an immigration judge to decide their future.
It turns out that the “major change”, according to Univision´s expert on immigration, is that it is now “legal” to place minors (between the ages of 13 and 17), in the facilities reopened by Biden and “legal” to process the children who make the crossing alone.
True. It is legal to do both, just as it was during the Trump administration. The difference is that Univision, led by anchor Jorge Ramos, made it a mission to “fight” against anything related to the former president, mainly regarding his policies on illegal immigration that would hurt the network's earning power with an audience that consists of newly arrived immigrants.
Watch how, in this video from a 2018 MRC Latino blog about a Univision report bashing a HHS facility for undocumented minors, Ramos makes an issue about a non-issue when he says that unaccompanied minors arriving in the United States were being sent to tent camps… alone.
JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR ANCHOR, NOTICIERO UNIVISIÓN: Now we go to the immigrant children who arrived unaccompanied to the United States, and who are being sent to a tent camp in the Texas desert, in the town of Tornillo. Since there is no place in other shelters, they are sending these children alone.
Fast forward to 2021: Now that Biden was elected, it's payback time. The same optics now have a different meaning and it is now perfectly legal for children who arrived in the United States alone, to be sent to shelters all alone.
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