Latino media outlets ignore Biden's re-implementation of Trump immigration rule

Latino media outlets such as Telemundo and Univision have declined to cover Biden's administration’s new immigration rule, which is almost identical to a widely criticized rule implemented under former President Donald Trump, according to an analysis by the Media Research Center. 

Coverage of the new “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule received a total of 30 seconds of airtime on the evening news section of Telemundo and was not covered at all by Univision.

In contrast, when Trump implemented an almost identical rule in 2019, it received 13 times more coverage. 

Unveiled last Tuesday, the rule would tighten restrictions for asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border by giving border officials the power to turn away migrants who “circumvent available, established pathways to lawful migration” or fail to ask for asylum in the countries they traveled through on their way to the U.S. 

Additionally, the rule proposes that those who violate it be barred from entering the U.S. for five years. 

The proposed rule is a version of the Trump-era’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until their court date to review their cases.

The policy was initially scrapped by Biden during his first year in office. 

In Telemundo’s coverage about the reimplementation of the rule, anchor Aranxta Loizaga claimed that such a measure would “bar those who cross the southern border and request asylum in the United States if they did not first attempt to do so in countries through which they crossed, such as Mexico.”

“Pro-immigrant groups, then, are saying that this policy is very similar to those that existed during the Trump era and they are already planning lawsuits to try to stop it,” she added at the end of her 30 second-report.

In contrast to this week’s passive report, a Telemundo news segment from July 2019, when Trump announced a similar rule, anchor Jose Diaz-Balart criticized the rule, calling it “a lethal blow to Central Americans.”

“President Trump further tightens the rules for asylum seekers. Starting tomorrow, most migrants who have passed through another country will not be able to seek refuge in the United States. This new rule is a lethal blow to Central Americans who arrive at the border escaping violence and poverty,” Diaz-Balart said.