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DACA deadline passes: for immigrants, dread persists

3/9/2018

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A month ago, MIREMS reviewed how ethnic media is discussing immigration reform in the US. We saw how immigration reform was widely seen as a divisive wedge issue and how, contrary to the perception that it mostly affects Hispanics, each ethnic minority feels the impact on members of their community.

With the March 5 deadline for an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program come and gone - thus rendered merely symbolic by court action - there is still no permanent solution for the Dreamers in sight. In fact, the deadline passed almost unnoticed in the ethnic media, where not only the Parkland shooting and calls for gun control but also reports on Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) raids and abuses, Trump's war on sanctuary jurisdictions, and growing fear of deportation in the immigrant community dominated the news.

The national Spanish TV station Univision has almost daily reports on raids by immigration authorities and their impact on the Hispanic population. Many immigrants, even with legal papers, are afraid to drive, take public transit and go to work after news spread that ICE was conducting operations on buses and at work places. "A nut factory outside Fresno lost 5-10 percent of its employees when a raid was announced, even though the employer checks all employees' status on e-Verify as required" (Univision, New York, 1 Mar. 2018).
While the Hispanic weekly La Raza denounced that ICE was targeting Dreamers for arrest (La Raza, Chicago, 6 Mar. 2018), the weekly Hoy Los Angeles criticized immigration authorities for separating children from their parents at the border as "cruel and unnecessary" (Hoy Los Angeles, 5 Mar. 2018).
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Univision reported that only 2,000 out of 11,000 unaccompanied minors who filed asylum claims were accepted because many are unable to articulate their legitimate fears well enough (Univision, New York, 1 Mar. 2018).

The Vietnamese daily Viet Bao reported on an incident where 92 Somalis were shackled at the wrist, waist and legs for over 48 hours during their deportation, were not allowed to use the rest room and were beaten and threatened (Viet Bao, Los Angeles, 7 Mar. 2018). Also according to Viet Bao, Vietnamese immigrants across the country have filed a lawsuit alleging US authorities are rounding them up and holding them in detention facilities for deportation even though Vietnamese immigrants who came to the US before 1995 cannot be deported (Viet Bao, 1 Mar. 2018).

The national Chinese daily paper Sing Tao reported on the conflicts between mayors of sanctuary cities like Oakland and New York on the one hand and national authorities on the other. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned undocumented residents of an ICE operation in 77 California businesses and identified ICE activities as a tactic to create fear (Sing Tao USA, New York, 26 Feb. 2018). Chinese organizations, including Chinese For Affirmative Action and Chinese Progressive Association, participated in a demonstration outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in San Francisco in solidarity with the more than 10,000 undocumented Chinese migrants in San Francisco (Sing Tao Daily, San Francisco, 1 Mar. 2018).

The expiration of the DACA deadline was reported in Voice of America Vietnamese, which noted that options for a resolution were "on the back burner" and the White House apparently expecting a Supreme Court victory (VOA, Washington, DC, 6 Mar. 2018). The weekly Russian Bazaar was hopeful that the court rulings meant that DACA beneficiaries could renew their permits indefinitely, would not be deported and would eventually get permanent residence, even if it is under the next president (Russian Bazaar, New York, 28 Feb. 2018).

It’s March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care. Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018
However, Spanish media including the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald did not believe President Trump's assurance that Dreamers "don't need to worry" about deportation and feared that their migratory limbo could be "lethal in the anti-immigrant era of Trump" (El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 6 Mar. 2018). Hoy Los Angeles and La Raza reported on high rates of anxiety and depression among Latino parents and adolescents and avoidance of medical attention, police help and social services support due to fear of immigration authorities and family separation on the part of both legal and undocumented residents (Hoy Los Angeles, 1 Mar. 2018; La Raza, Chicago, 2 Mar. 2018).

Meanwhile, Haitian and African American media focused on a lawsuit by Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants who claim President Trump's cancellation of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS)  for Haitians, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans was racially motivated (South Florida Times, Fort Lauderdale, 1 Mar. 2018, and Haitian Voice of America, Washington, DC, 2 Mar. 2018).

While the DACA deadline passed with little notice or end in sight, immigration issues remain a central preoccupation of the ethnic media. Each community has its own concerns and perspectives, which are reflected in the papers, websites, radio station and TV programs they turn to for news, analysis and perspectives relevant to their own lived experience.

At MIREMS, we continue to tap into these voices, and make them accessible to decision makers. For immigrants - undocumented or not - and their families, raising their voices is more imporatant now than ever.
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Beyond the headline: Monday March 5

3/5/2018

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MIREMS chooses a story from our daily advisory reports to share on our blog.
These cross-cultural translation summaires are a first hand look at what ethnic and multilingual media are reporting on across the country.

TPS: A group a Haitians and Salvadorians took the Trump administration to court - Haitian

Source: Voice of America Creole in Washington DC, Radio

The US administration will be before the courts since a Haitian and Salvadoran group seeks justice for the decision to end the TPS program in 2019 - a subject that attracts many people. Haitians and Salvadorans have a lot of doubt about whether they can stay in the country or whether they will be deported. They prefer to go to Canada because many people have told them that Canada will accept them, so they do their best to get there. Unfortunately, once they arrive to Canada, they realize that the problem is very difficult. Instead of running and going to Canada, they are asked to wait because we are fighting for them to find a solution. We are sure and certain that there will be a solution, and we don't want them to get into trouble when they arrive in Canada.


Story published on
02/03/2018
MIREMS consultants translate and summarize hundreds of stories daily across North America. Making language barriers transparent, bringing diverse voices to the forefront.
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Diversity Unrigs the System

2/7/2018

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The system quantifies; diversity qualifies.
It makes us unique. Part of that make up is our heritage, our cultural and linguistic diversity.
Culture is language. The streets of America are multilingual and diverse. So is the American media. It’s en inglés, in Spanish, en Kreyòl Ayisyen, and many other tongues. Pockets of people from Los Angeles to Miami and everywhere in-between are watching Russian TV, listening to Vietnamese radio, reading Punjabi papers.

Who's in your back yard? Do they want to unrig the system?

The battles and causes you champion are fought for in those multilingual and diverse streets across America. Understanding what is being said and reaching out in those languages gets your voice—and ears—on the ground with them.
If you want to sell, speak the language of the buyer.

MIREMS makes that language barrier transparent.
As a multilingual team, we bring a unique approach to linguistic and culturally diverse media research and monitoring.
From multilingual media research and analysis, to serious media monitoring and support for media outreach campaigns—we bring these voices to the ears who need to hear them, and help you deliver a response.

We're just getting started. Our first stop is the Unrig the System Summit in New Orleans this weekend. We are thrilled to learn more about how we can help #unrigthesystem.

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Diverse media discusses immigration reform

2/1/2018

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More than one in five Americans speak a language other than English at home. From majority-minority populations in California to small but mighty Brazilian communities in Marlborough, Massachusetts, they make up part of 63.2 million American residents who think and speak and even work in a language other than English.
 
Over the past month MIREMS consultants dove into these communities via the newspapers and radio stations they use to communicate with each other and the world around them. The headlines that topped mainstream media stories found their voice in the immigrant communities they were talking about. The volatile navigation of immigration reform is having a big moment right now, and the country’s ethnic and multilingual media is certainly along for the ride. 
 
Italian sources focused on President Trump and immigration. The Italian outlet America Oggi from Norwood, New Jersey says Trump’s “wedge politics” which are “pitting illegal aliens and Americans against each other,” keeps the Dreamers issue “controversial.” The source also had regular cover of Russia related issues, and Trumps state of the union address.
 
Smaller language groups wrote about their place within immigration reform. Chicago’s Polish Dziennik Zwiazkowy, with a circulation of 30,000, called for “The abolition of visas for Poles” as a “matter of honor and national pride.”
 
A column in a Korean outlet in Atlanta, The Korea Daily says that “a popular perception is that Trump's anti-immigration policy targets mainly Latinos - which is wrong.” The article  says “the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been arresting Asian immigrants over criminal records as old as 20 years.” It continues saying “Asian rights advocate groups have been emphasizing that Asian immigrants must make a collective voice against discrimination, as the popular perception of Asian immigrants as a ‘silent group’ undermines their political power in the States.”
 
A Punjabi source in New York, The Daily Hamdard, joined the “us too” discussion, reporting that 40 percent of foreign born tech workers in Seattle, the home of Microsoft, are from India. Punjab Radio USA, broadcast out of San Jose, also commented on immigration reform noting that among the “6,90,000 undocumented immigrants, who came to the US as minors...are several thousand people of Indian descent.”
 
Vietnamese source Viet Bao from Los Angeles reported on the pockets of the labor force with large proportions of immigrants, namely construction. The article notes that while the “majority of immigrants originate from Latin America, Hawaii attracts mostly immigrants from Asia.” It warns of sweeping changes in immigration as right now “immigrant workers comprise over one quarter of the work force, the highest ever since the American Community Survey (ACS) first established its tracking records.”
 
Not to be forgotten, the Spanish media is robust: Sources in Florida and California have larger readerships that some of the country’s largest English publications. As headlines in the past month have been focused on immigration, unsurprisingly, the Spanish media has been highly critical of the current state of affairs. From editorials discussing the “cruel” treatment of Salvadorians in Miami’s El Nuevo Herald titled “In our opinion: The end of TPS demands a humanitarian solution,” to the Diario de Mexico in New York calling it “another hit” to an already troubled group, coverage of the Trump’s cancelling of the TPS was critical and empathetic. Articles offered advice and messages of solidarity.
 
As immigration remains on the forefront of national and local politics, these local multilingual, often immigrant run media will be paying close attention. The question is whether or not you should be listening to them, too.
 

Written by Caora McKenna

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