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Right-wing Spanish-language media waver on Trump's mass deportations

The end of temporary protected status seemed to be a tipping point for some Spanish-language media figures, who spoke out about indiscriminate deportations

Written by Janos Balazs & Monica Rodriguez

Published

Right-wing voices in Spanish-language news media have begun to speak out against President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts after seeing his administration target legal immigrants, such as those with temporary protected status, as well as those without violent or other criminal records. 

In the early months of the administration, many of these figures parroted the Trump administration's talking points, suggesting only “violent” criminals would be deported. But cracks have emerged since the administration revoked legal status for many immigrants in the U.S. who previously had temporary protected status.

  • Trump’s deportation efforts are sweeping up legal immigrants and those without violent or other criminal records, drawing criticism

    • Trump’s vow to carry out the “largest deportation” of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history has resulted in the removal of people without violent criminal records. According to internal data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, less than 10% of immigrants taken into custody by ICE have had serious criminal convictions. The Trump administration has labeled all undocumented immigrants “criminals” to justify nonviolent immigrant deportations. Back in November, Andrew Selee of the Migration Policy Institute predicted that immigrants legally admitted to the U.S., such as those with TPS, humanitarian parole recipients, and those who arrived through the CBP One application, would also face deportation. [NPR, 11/14/24; Media Matters, 4/9/25; CNN, 6/16/25; Axios, 1/28/25]
    • In May, the Supreme Court announced that the Trump administration could revoke parole programs, including TPS, for thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants living in the country. On February 3, the Trump administration had moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Venezuelans, who may now be at risk of deportation, and in early July, the administration ended TPS for “tens of thousands of migrants from Honduras and Nicaragua.” [Axios, 2/3/25; AP News, 2/3/2025; The Guardian, 5/30/25; NPR, 7/7/25]
    • As public support for deportations declined, members of the Republican-led Congressional Hispanic Conference called on the Trump administration to “prioritize violent offenders and convicted criminal aliens.” This came after a Quinnipiac poll showing a majority of voters disapproved of Trump's deportation policy. NBC reported that in a focus group of Latinos who voted for Trump, “some divisions over the focus of his deportation program emerged.” [ABC News, 6/16/25; NBC News, 6/19/25; AZ Central, 6/23/25; Quinnipiac, 6/11/25]

  • Initially, right-wing voices in Spanish-language media claimed only “criminals” would be deported

    • In February, Fox Noticias host Rachel Campos-Duffy asked her guest, Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, if it was correct that the current deportation efforts exclusively target “criminals, murderers, rapists, and members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13.” Cleveland confirmed this, adding that “the United States needs illegal workers" to work “in the fields, for construction, ... cooks, cleaners, but we don't want criminals.” Campos-Duffy later emphasized that the people currently sought for deportation do not include “those who came and crossed illegally. This phase is just for criminals.” [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 02/07/25]
    • Hoy por Hoy host Carines Moncada told listeners that “what they want to do is deport criminals, these thieves, murderers, rapists, kidnappers, drug traffickers.” She added that “you need to have a deportation order” and that “one does not understand how people can be against this. They’re the same who don’t say squat about the victims of these people.” [América Radio, Hoy por Hoy, 04/08/25]
    • Radio Mambi’s Lucy Pereda said “border czar” Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “have begun raids in various cities across the nation, focusing their main agents on arresting convicted criminals and gang members.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 02/03/25]
    • Nelson Rodriguez-Varela, a Miami attorney, said on Actualidad Radio that Trump deserved an A grade “for his efforts to deport all these criminal gang members,” adding that “criminals” should get deported no matter what. Rodriguez-Varela argued, “That's a good tactic. I think we want to deport all these people who have come to the United States to create discord, to violate laws, to seek to make our government less effective, to kidnap, to kill, to traffic fentanyl, to traffic people, to commit underage people to prostitution." [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 04/29/25]

  • Support wavered when the Trump administration came after TPS, especially when Venezuelan immigrants in Florida were targeted

    • Radio host Jorge Diaz-Diaz said he does “not agree with these Venezuelans leaving.” He expressed hope that “the State Department or Marco Rubio can do something to convince President Trump and his administration.” [La Nueva Poderosa, Mucho que Decir, 02/04/25]
    • Cada Tarde host Agustin Acosta said it's “not fair” that “a community of more than a million decent” Venezuelans “are all paying for those wrongdoings” of Tren de Aragua members. He said that the Venezuelan community is paying for the actions of “maybe fifteen hundred, two thousand” criminals, and that the situation “is not fair.” [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 02/05/25]
    • During an appearance on Fox Noticias, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) defended the idea of Venezuelan immigrants remaining in the U.S. She argued, “These people entered legally. … We cannot send them back to Caracas, just as is the case with some Cubans and Nicaraguans.” [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 06/04/25]
    • Radio host Lucy Pereda said the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump could end TPS protections “has created real chaos in the community of immigrants who came to the United States in a legal way.” She said those affected would include “people who are legally doing their immigration procedures” and that they are being punished because of a minority of “sinners” who commit crimes. [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/03/25]
    • Pereda claimed participants in some protests in Cuba currently residing in the U.S. are scheduled for deportation and called this “a difficult problem,” adding, “I hope it reaches the ears of the Trump administration … so he can fix the problems of the unjust arrests in the Hispanic community, because this could cost the Republican Party votes.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/09/25]

  • Spanish-language right-wing media spoke out as Trump’s mass deportation efforts targeted nonviolent or noncriminal immigrants

    • Radio host Agustin Acosta described incidents “that border on the absurd” regarding people who have been threatened with deportation. One example he cited was “a U.S. citizen … detained for several days simply because he looked Hispanic.” [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 06/02/25]
    • Acosta later attacked “excesses and operations that are truly absurd, stupid, unnecessary” while discussing deportations. Acosta mentioned it during his first question of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), who was appearing as a guest. Acosta added, “Arresting an old woman and leaving her kids behind, a grandmother who went with her little grandkids and left them in the car, arrested various people who were born American citizens and were arrested wrongly, and spent days or hours in a detention center despite being citizens. … There is great discomfort in certain Republican sectors due to the excess and excessive measures that have been implemented.” [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 06/17/25]
    • Agustin Acosta said Trump administration officials Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, and Kristi Noem “have an odor of racism” regarding their stances on immigration and that they should “watch their language so they don’t portray all Hispanics in the U.S. as all rapists, drug traffickers, predators, thieves, or murderers.” Guest Frank Rodriguez later called the three officials “ultranationalists,” saying they “see the U.S. as a country of blue-eyed blondes.” Co-host Carlos Acosta also criticized immigration raids at construction sites and restaurants, saying, “They are working; they are not criminals.” [Actualidad Radio, Cada Tarde, 6/30/25]
    • Rachel Campos-Duffy said, “To increase deportation numbers, it also seems that the Trump government is arresting and deporting illegals who were not violent after crossing the border.” Her guest, Art Del Cueto, agreed and she added, “But when Donald Trump was running to be president, he said we would get the ‘bad hombres’ out, and it’s true, in the first months we saw that they were getting MS-13 and whoever out. It looks like now they are starting to arrest and deport people who have not been violent after crossing the border.” [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 06/09/25]
    • On that same day, Campos-Duffy also said, “There are many stories of illegal immigrants who have spent years in the country and have not committed any other crime, and are now being detained and deported.” She then went on to show an Instagram video showing one such case. [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 06/09/25]
    • Host Lucy Pereda said that in Los Angeles, “along with arresting people with criminal histories, they are also arresting immigrants who have lived here for decades and honorably worked and raised a family in this country.” She followed up, “These cases are what they’re calling ‘collateral damage.’” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/09/25]
    • The next day, Pereda said, “The current immigration strategies or regulations need to be revised again to select, with more justice, who really deserves deportation.” Pereda argued that “not all are criminals, even though it’s evident that they have arrested many criminal illegal immigrants and put their names on social media.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/10/25]
    • Pereda said Trump’s “implementation of these deportations is creating very chaotic situations.” She complained that “mixed in with the arrests of the criminals are immigrants who do not deserve to be deported. Some have been arrested right in immigration offices when they thought they were going to try to legally get their documents in order. … I’m not talking about abusers, cheaters, those who have false papers, no. I’m talking about people who are simply working, filling out their papers, and do not deserve to get arrested and deported.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/12/25]
    • Immigration attorney Grisel Ybarra said it is “inhumane” and “illegal” to deport a person who has been residing in the U.S. for more than 30 years. Ybarra added, “You could have deported me 40 years ago, and you didn't do it.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/18/25]
    • Ybarra said she voted for Trump “to have the criminals deported,” not “a family that has been in this country for 24 years.” She also criticized White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller's quota of arrests a day, saying his “3000 a day” figure for deportations “are not numbers. These are people. These are human beings.” She added, “If Trump were to tell me he was going to do this, I wouldn’t vote for him.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda sin Censura, 06/03/25]
    • Regarding distinguishing violent criminals from those who simply crossed the border without documentation, ex-ICE agent Victor Avila said, “They have to do something because it’s not the same category of people.” This was in response to host Julie Banderas saying it was “impossible to get all the illegals out of this country. It’s impossible. … There are millions. But it’s easier to get the criminals out first and close the borders so more people don’t enter. I think that’s something they can do and focus on criminals first.” [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 6/13/25]