Univision’s elation at the news of the government negotiating with immigration lawyers to dish-out anywhere from $450,000 to $1M per undocumented immigrant family that was separated at the border in 2018, under President Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, surprises no one.
Neither do the channel’s double standards clearly articulated by anchor Satcha Pretto who first considered the proposed compensation, “a lot of money”, only to add a minute later, “Well, for some it means a lot of money.”
SATCHA PRETTO: With cash, the Biden administration is considering compensating parents and children separated during the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy. We are talking about a lot of money; about one million dollars for each affected family.
ELYANGÉLICA GONZÁLEZ: Well, what this Wall Street Journal report says is that the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Health and Human Services are negotiating with the lawyers of those families who were separated at the border during the Trump administration, that is, with regard to compensation. And what is the amount of that compensation? No less than $ 450,000, according to the sources cited precisely by this U.S. newspaper.
…
Most families describe this moment of separation, and the time they were apart, as a profound psychological trauma, the same thing that this father told us at the time.
…
PRETTO: Well, for some it means a lot of money, but really, how do you recover, right, all that lost time. How can so much pain be compensated for?
The mere consideration of awarding what would amount to billions of dollars of taxpayers money, to people breaking the law, is offensive for its brazenness. Pushing for such a measure when unemployment is rampant and growing, inflation is out of control, people are being evicted from their homes, bankruptcies are skyrocketing, and hundreds of Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan, is simply baffling.
Not so for the Latino media – along with the activists and immigration lawyers who are set to make a windfall from these disbursements. But while they gloat about Biden´s buy-out of undocumented immigrants, we at MRC Latino remind them of just how differently they thought of parents sending their children into the U.S.A. back in 2014, under the Obama-Biden regime, as you can see from this clip featuring former Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-Il), and Univision anchors Maria Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos on the Univision Sunday public affairs show Al Punto:
CONGRESSMAN LUIS GUTIÉRREZ (D-IL): The law is clear. The inmen...Jorge, 95% of those children will never resolve a relief for their immigration situation. They are all in process of deportation at this time, and even after their hearing before the Court, 95% of them will be ordered to be deported. That’s why I don’t want them to come. And I join all those who say, “Children- and parents, don’t send your children here because that will resolve absolutely nothing. First, the coyotes and human traffickers will abuse them, they will rape them, they will kill them, and at the end they will charge them very expensively- and in the end, who wins? Those who are in human trafficking because the children will eventually receive no help in terms of immigration.
MARIA ELENA SALINAS: We went by the ranches through which most of the undocumented cross. You can see why so many die along that way at Fanfurres, at McAllen, Texas.
JORGE RAMOS: Why? Why do they die?
SALINAS: Because they have to walk up to 35 miles to arrive at the road under terrible conditions. These are ranches with animals, snakes, the inclement weather, weariness, lack of water, and since there are checkpoints, they have to get off at a certain point and then walk or run. That’s how many die trying (to cross the border).
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas sends similar ´Don´t Come Now´ messages, often amplified by the Spanish-speaking media, but the actions of the Biden administration regarding illegal immigration into the United States confirm the opposite: record numbers of undocumented immigrants are crossing the nation´s unprotected southern borders, and children are being trafficked by the cartels without consequence. No one has stopped to consider how this potential payout might affect future migration, or what happens when (not if) coyotes begin working these payouts into their advertising. Least of all, a media that is wholly dependent on a constant inflow of immigrants, legal or otherwise.
Help the MRC call out bias in the Spanish-speaking media by following this link.
To read the complete transcript of the Univision’s Despierta America segment aired on October 29, 2021, press on Expand:
SATCHA PRETTO: With cash, the Biden administration is considering compensating parents and children separated during the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy. We are talking about a lot of money; about one million dollars for each affected family. We go live to Elyangélica González who explains where these funds would come from, and when they would be distributed, and also, how. Tell us Elyangélica.
ELYANGÉLICA GONZÁLEZ: Of course Satcha, immediately. Well, what this Wall Street Journal report says is that the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Health and Human Services are negotiating with the lawyers of those families who were separated at the border during the Trump administration, that is, with regard to compensation. And what is the amount of that compensation? No less than $ 450,000, according to the sources cited precisely by this U.S. newspaper. Most families describe this moment of separation, and the time they were apart, as a profound psychological trauma, the same thing that this father told us at the time. Let's listen to him.
FATHER: They took him away from me, they neglected him. He was a very good child before he was brought here, to the border, but now everything that happened to him totally traumatized him. He doesn't feel safe anymore.
PRETTO: Well, in this case they were reunited. The son of this man who is one of the plaintiffs, said he was raped by several minors after being separated. The departments that are dealing with these migrants think that the amount of compensation per family could be close to one million dollars, although most of the separated groups consisted of a father or a mother and a minor child. That said, it is important to remember that during the zero tolerance policy applied by the Trump era, or in the Trump era, in 2018, at least 5,600 children were separated from their parents under the Trump administration. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 1,000 children who still, Satcha, have not been reunited with their parents, and this data is provided by the White House to researchers and journalists.
PRETTO: Well, for some it means a lot of money, but really, how do you recover, right, all that lost time. How can so much pain be compensated for? We will be paying close attention. Thank you Elyangélica González for giving us these details.
