A recent report published by The Bulwark illustrates the freakout inside Univision over the decision to air the ad featuring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, encouraging illegal immigrants to self-deport.
EMPLOYEES AT THE SPANISH-LANGUAGE cable mainstay Univision were left distraught earlier this month after the network’s brass decided to run Department of Homeland Security ads warning immigrants that the government will find and deport them.
The ads, which are part of a new $200 million campaign Homeland Security unveiled in February, have rankled immigrant-rights groups, who view them as a blunt attempt at fearmongering on the taxpayer dime.
The article references Univision’s initial coverage of the ad campaign, which the news division labeled a “controversy” featuring a “radical” ad:
Univision covered the DHS self-deportation ads with Kristi Noem as "radical", and a "controversy": pic.twitter.com/fihy2pVxz1
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 14, 2025
NOTICIERO UNIVISION EDICIÓN DIGITAL
2/18/25
12:03 PM
ANDREA LINARES: We continue with this controversy. "If you don't leave, we will find you and deport you", that’s how radical the ad with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is, in a controversial TV, radio, and digital ad campaign across several countries.
Linares and co-anchor Borja Voces tossed to D.C. correspondent Edwin Pitti, who didn’t further editorialize about the ad campaign but noted there were “strong reactions” to it. It turns out that the strongest reactions may have come from within Univision’s own newsroom.
Carrasquillo’s item goes on to detail the internal debate and hand wringing by Univision staffers over the decision to air the ad, and it all goes back to the 2023 Trump interview and how it was handled. But the caterwauling inside Univision (and, to a lesser extent, Telemundo) confirms what we’ve told you all along: that these networks are part and parcel of the Immigration Industrial Complex. Their long-term survival depends on a continuously broken border and a lack of executive will to enforce it. Here’s former anchor Jorge Ramos, making that very point at a 2015 Harvard Q&A:
JORGE RAMOS: I think the future of Spanish-language media is assured for decades, simply, for a very simple reason: Despite of the fact that the majority of the growth within the Hispanic community is coming from people being born here, we still have one to two million immigrants, legally and illegally coming in every single year. Most of them speak Spanish. So, therefore, we have a market that is growing and growing.
...
And I think we can assure you that in the next few decades, you'll see Spanish-language media. That's another topic completely, but the Latino community is keeping so many elements from their country of origin, including Spanish- 9 out of 10 Latinos speak Spanish...speak Spanish at home- that- and we're doing things that Italians didn't do, or Russians, or Eastern Europeans didn't do- and the closeness to our countries of origin and the communications that we have are keeping Spanish-language media alive. And thanks to that, it's a new power that other immigrant communities didn't have in the past.
The Biden administration, what with their flinging the border open, turned out to be a boon for Spanish-language news media. But it is time to adapt to the current environment. Univision and Telemundo appear to be doing so, albeit very reluctantly.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on Noticiero Univision Edicion Digital on February 18, 2025:
ANDREA LINARES: We continue with this controversy. "If you don't leave, we will find you and deport you", that’s how radical the ad with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is, in a controversial TV, radio, and digital ad campaign across several countries.
BORJA VOCES: According to the official, this campaign seeks to convince undocumented migrants to leave the United States voluntarily, and (to convince) those outside (the U.S.) not to risk coming because, as you can see, they will face the consequences. Edwin Pitti is live from Washington, D.C. with all the details and, of course, the reactions which have come quickly. Edwin. Good afternoon. Breaking news.
EDWIN PITTI: How are you, good afternoon. That’s right- we are talking about a controversial advertisement by the Department of Homeland Security starring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem herself who directly addresses undocumented immigrants: first, by making them a loud and clear invitation to self-deport so that they leave the country voluntarily. And, on the other hand, she reinforces the message with a threat, saying that this government is willing to move forward, searching, finding and massively deporting people who have committed some type of crime, as they have been doing since Day One of President Donald Trump’s second term. In this video that lasts just under a minute, Secretary Noem also thanks Donald Trump for his leadership in how these mass deportations have been carried out. But she also leaves the door open so that those people who leave voluntarily can, in her own words, have the slightest option in the future to legally return to the United States. Secretary Noem says In this video that the only way for a country to be truly strong is for all the people who live within it to respect the laws, and that is why she states that it will be the only way for people to return to the United States- respecting the laws. But those who are caught and deported will not be able to return to American soil. Without a doubt, an advertising campaign that costs millions of dollars- millions of dollars that are of course paid for by taxpayers, and that is why there are many strong reactions. I’m Edwin Pitti, reporting from Washington for your Edición Digital. Back to you.
LINARES: Edwin, as always, thank you very much for this report.
