This is a fascinating, highly thought provoking and very timely thread. It applies to broadcasting, because the federal government is making purchases of political ads to be broadcast on radio stations. So, I would politely ask the administrators and moderators to utilize some forbearance and patience in allowing it to continue, as long as everyone is respectful and civil with each other. It is a very important topic.
It is hard for me, as a moderator but also as a person who has lived or worked in nearly all of the Latin American nations where migrants are coming from. The principal issue from my perspective is the definition of "refugee" versus that of migrants. A "refugee" to me is a person who leaves their country due to a fear of some kind while a migrant is looking for a better life.
Perhaps 50% or so of the populations of the Spanish speaking nations of Latin America might expect a better life in the U.S.A. based on the metrics of income and opportunity. Only a tiny percentage of those populations lives in fear of punishment of some kind because of their known opposition to existing governments or authorities.
Even in nations like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the percentage of those living in such fear is relatively small. A very significant gray area lies in that definition of "fear"; there are poor job opportunities for the less educated and, in come cases, members of ethnic groups such as Indigenous persons... but those people are poor, not persecuted.
I have never heard this analysis made on English language media in the United States. I believe some of the reason lies in a total lack of understanding of the wide differences in education and income in Latin American nations. An example of the extreme here is that radio and TV are principally measured by socioeconomic groups and not age groups; some formats that might get #1 shares are not even programmed because the appeal is to the lowest income groups who have no spendable incomes.
In my search for a format for Emmis in Argentina, we looked at... and sampled with a big number of people... nearly 30 music formats. The big winner was something called "bailanta" which is Argentine "tropical" or cumbia. It appeals to the lowest of the low income groups, and we discarded that option as no ad agency would ever buy on such a format due to the limited incomes of the listeners. And that is a case in a relatively wealthy Latin American nation... imagine how it looks in Bolivia or Perú!
As I understand it, it is legal for refugees to present themselves at a port of entry to request asylum when they are fleeing a government where their life or the life of their family members is in danger. In the case of many Latin American countries, entire cities and towns are under control of the cartels, who regularly kidnap teens to force them to work for the cartels.
Really, that applies mostly to some small and rural towns in certain parts of Mexico. It does not apply generally anywhere else. It may have applied to some rural areas of Colombia during the worst of the FARC era, and to some parts of Perú at the height... over 40 years ago... of the Sendero Luminoso. But otherwise, all we have is the same kind of urban crime that we see in big U.S. cities.
In Venezuela, the Maduro regime targets families for arrest, imprisonment, and disappearance, if the family is seen as political s. dissident
Only extreme "agitators" such as political organizers of the opposition. The issue there is the decline in standards of living, not persecution. And the cause is bad government, not "socialist government". Simply, the people in power have destroyed the country economically.
David, when you were helping with the Mariel Boat Lift involving refugees escaping the Castro regime, those immigrants entered through the port of Miami. They probably did not have jobs lined up before they arrived. It is the same with political and economic refugees coming through the ports of entry from Venezuela, or countries ruled by cartels.
Most landed along the keys, particularly Key West. At the time, the U.S. government considered anyone fleeing socialism to be a refugee, not a migrant, so they were granted asylum.
Again, there are no nations ruled by cartels. There are some areas of rural Mexico under their influence, and a few spots, perhaps, along coastal areas of Honduras, but that is it. For example, the now-controlled situation in El Salvador, where the Mara Salvatrucha had such control over neighborhoods, that was gang activity no different than we see in some U.S. inner cities.
Applying for asylum is different than moving from one country to another, such as you did from Ohio to Ecuador. You had a job lined up and funds set aside to support yourself, as you were applying for some form of citizenship or permanent legal status in Ecuador.
I had no job lined up. I was 17 going on 18, and wanted to build a radio station. I got a resident work visa because I showed my savings from working and "playing" the stock market since I was about 9 or 10. But I hired myself, and had no job offer.
That is like software engineers from India migrating to the tech sector in California on an H 1 visa. They already have the job lined up and are not seen as refugees. They are higher up in the immigration hierarchy than refugees fleeing persecution or imprisonment.
Again, the percentage of people fleeing persecution and imprisonment is very limited. I'd have no fear for security in any significant Spanish speaking city in Latin America as long as I took precautions. For example, the Peruvian government has applied severe measures in Lima recently because the street crime ranging from stealing purses to taking cars was out of control. People did not go out at night, and finally the government took steps. But none of that is involves political persecution or cartels. Again, just bad government.
I wonder what KNBR will do about those ads, if anything. I have seen the one with Sec. Noem standing outside the prison in El Salvador, and it is grimly horrifying. (which is probably was the intention). .... Daryl.
Horrifying is what you hear in Spanish from the TdA and Mara affiliated prisoners, who speak of revenge on everyone if they get out.
My feeling is that KNBR will run the schedule as bought by the ad agency or buying service involved here. Otherwise they run a significant risk of investigation for an unfair trade practice as you can't pick and choose "cause" advertisements that you want or don't want to take. And, as Scott Fybush has said, it is unlikely that the current administration would find a valid reason for rejecting an ad that, basically, says "If you leave on your own, you have a chance to apply legally. If your are apprehended and deported, you can never hope to come back."
Some many not like the deportation of illegal, undocumented immigrants. But the fact is that the ads address the legal status of undocumented persons and are not, on face value, incorrect.
If you were placed in expedited removal proceedings, you received a positive credible fear determination, and USCIS retained your asylum application for further consideration in an Asylum Merits Interview, please visit our Asylum Merits Interview with USCIS: Processing After a Positive Credible...
www.uscis.gov
That is, and always has been a very vague area where determining who is a political refugee that deserves asylum vs. a person who wants a better job, a better life and the proverbial "American Dream".
Conservative media has done a terrible job in covering and explaining what is a legitimate cause for being qualified as an asylum seeker. There is a lot of noise on conservative radio and palaces like Fox News and Breitbart about the relatively small number of actual criminals who have entered illegally and little investigation into whether the people who just want a job and some security might actually be good for the economy of the country. Conservative media is simply in a "immigration bad, deportation good" mode and that is an ugly thing; people here legally, people born here of recent foreign heritage, are being treated as undesirable.
Again, the problem here is conservative ultra-right radio where all immigrants are being painted as criminals (other than illegal entry into the U.S.) when, in fact, very few are. I have listened to some of the most extreme radio talk hosts and find their comments to be abominable.
(It's hard to discuss the way radio is handling this issue without entering the realm of politics. But I see much of the anger against migrants to be generated and fueled by radio talk hosts, so at some point this is, indeed, a radio subject.)
