Immigration Reporters In The Crosshairs
Caption: Journalists at work in the aftermath of the Walmart shooting in El Paso, TX, in 2019. Many Latino journalists have reported suffering trauma -- threats and online bullying -- since the shooting.
Credit: Joel Angel Juarez
Journalists covering the border and immigration face intrusive official scrutiny, bullying and online harassment. What can be done?
By: Sofía Cerda Campero y Laura Olivieri Robles
A single fluorescent bulb was the only thing that lit the small, windowless room where Nein, a freelance reporter, sat in front of a Department of Homeland Security officer who had launched into an interrogation.
He was cordial, yet firm. His questions specific and direct.
Who was he working for? How did he make a living as a freelance photojournalist? How did he find out about the migrant caravan? (The caravan had just arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, from its starting points in El Salvador and Honduras)
Nein, whose name has been changed because he fears reprisals, is an American citizen. So was surprised that he was singled out for questioning in a secondary screening. It’s something U.S. officials at border crossings and airports have a right to do, to anyone, and he was nervous.
Nein was returning to California after three weeks in Mexico, where he had been covering the journeys of migrants.
Before entering the interrogation room, another agent asked him to leave his belongings for inspection: notebook, computer, camera and cell phone. At the end of the conversation, there were no apologies, and the agents asked if they could contact him again with further questions. Nein politely avoided the petition, and the agents didn’t insist.
“I felt dirty, violated,” he said.
Hostility against Latinos, it seems, has become an everyday issue in many U.S. communities. This has created a dangerous environment for journalists, especially those covering border issues and immigration. Reporters have been subject to unusual and uncomfortable scrutiny by border agents. They’ve been denied entry to Mexico. (Some Latin American reporters have also been barred from entering the U.S. even though they have valid visas.) Online harassment is on the rise. Border and Latino journalists believe they’re living in a toxic culture without an infrastructure of safety and security, either online or in real life.
Names On A List
At the beginning of 2019, NBC San Diego revealed documents that appear to show collaboration between the U.S and Mexican governments. This included a list of journalists, activists and lawyers who had followed or covered the migrant caravan. Some of those journalists faced extensive scrutiny from border agents. Many of them have since been denied entrance to Mexico. It is unclear, however, if they were flagged by U.S. or Mexican authorities, or both. Since 2017, 10 journalists covering migrant caravans have been subject to secondary interrogation from federal agents, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Some journalists are challenging this extra scrutiny with a lawsuit charging that their First Amendment rights have been violated.
At the same time, hate crimes against Latinos in the U.S. are on the rise. That trend was put into tragic focus on the morning of August 3, 2019, when a 21-year-old man opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Twenty-two people died, and 24 were wounded. “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” the aggressor wrote in a manifesto published minutes before the massacre.
Coverage of the El Paso shooting was particularly sensitive for Latino reporters. It was the first time many of them had experienced such open aggression and violence against their community and targeting of their identity.
“It’s hard to believe that they will attack you in your own home,” said Uriel Posada, who is from El Paso and is news director at KINT-TV. “I then realized we are targeted for being Mexicans and Mexican Americans.”
Fighting The Insecurity
In the weeks after the El Paso attack, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists invited Vita Activa, a helpline that supports journalists and activists suffering violence as a consequence of their work, to offer psychological first aid to the journalists who had reported on the massacre.
“Insecurity becomes a constant, everyday mood,” said Luisa Ortiz, founder and director of Vita Activa. “Insecurity and instability are very, very rough.”
It is important to be able to pull back and get some distance, added Ortiz, so one can recognize, observe and analyze issues in an effort to understand the patterns that light up traumas.
Posada said animosity from certain segments of the population against journalists has been stoked from within the U.S. government. “They have called us fake news and to a certain extent have created hate towards our work.”
The most audacious threat, many Latino journalists complain, has come from U.S. President Donald Trump. The most glaring example of this animosity is the president’s confrontation with CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta during a press conference in November 2018. Trump, clearly agitated with Acosta’s persistent questions, said, “CNN should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them.” The altercation resulted in a civil lawsuit by Acosta against Trump, who denied the reporter his usual White House access after the confrontation.
Acosta became the second prominent Latino journalist to face Trump’s ire. In the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump called for the removal of Univision journalist Jorge Ramos from a press conference. “Go back to Univision,” he said, uttering an iteration of the familiar nationalist cry, “Go back to where you came from.”
"If this happens to someone as visible as Jorge Ramos, this type of thing gives you an idea of the times we are going through,” said Marco Avilés, a journalist who often writes about racism and discrimination.
Threats Become Policy
In 2019, at least 28 journalists were denied entry to public government meetings and events. So far in 2020, three more journalists have been denied access, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Journalists fear that the president’s media attacks encourage others to do the same. Alice Driver, an independent journalist working in Mexico, has covered immigration since Donald Trump took office in 2016. The CNN contributor has noticed that when her stories appear on the network, she receives comments similar to the rhetoric used by Trump and his supporters.
Driver offered some examples:
"I hope you are raped by an immigrant."
“If you like immigrants so much, why don't you let them live in your house?”
“If you love the United States so much, why don't you write about the homeless? You're a terrible person."
"The virtual world is no longer so virtual," said Aviles, who has explored in depth the weight that words have in a racist context, "It is transforming into something more specific. There are troll farms; there are bots. It is a world like ‘The Matrix.’ Virtual attacks have consequences.”
The problem is especially disturbing for women. Some 70 percent of women in journalism have experienced harassment online because of their gender, according to the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Working Without A Net
Worsening the trauma is the reality that border and immigration journalists – especially independent or freelance reporters – often do not have access to adequate security measures or training programs.
“Since journalism is so financially collapsed, people do not have a budget, and therefore, they are not safe,” said Driver, who has reported from Reynosa, Piedras Negras and Ciudad Juárez – cities bordering the U.S. that are considered among the most dangerous in Mexico. She, herself, has taken three safety courses since she started her reporting, thanks to financing from journalism associations.
“The most important idea of the courses is preparation. You want to avoid being kidnapped or being held back,” Driver said. “It's not like I just arrive and say ‘hello!’ which is what [reporters] sometimes do. They come to the border, don’t speak Spanish, and don’t know how to say anything. But they say, ‘I will write this story.’”
Driver emphasized that certain precautions should be taken to navigate these areas more safely. Some of them are easy measures, such as traveling in teams and coordinating with local contacts and trusted fixers.
Yet, as easy as some of those steps may seem, many journalists lack the knowledge and/or resources to be able to protect themselves. They often can’t afford to get proper training on how to even recognize the dangerous situations they are likely to encounter.
While the physical dangers of covering the border are common concerns among journalists, less acknowledged are the threats to mental health. Some journalists pursue psychological relief in private. For Driver, exercise is essential. Not only is her work physically demanding, it also tests her ability to cope with stress and traumatic situations. But for other journalists, exercise may not be enough. Nein, who also considers exercise essential to his professional life, has turned to therapy to manage the impact of his difficult border experiences.
“What a luxury, too,” Nein said. “Many people do not have access to therapy.” He considers himself fortunate, not only because he can afford psychotherapy, but because he can maintain a sense of proportion. “I feel weird saying it, but my problems are nothing compared to theirs [the immigrants he covered].”
“Mental health and stress management are part of a change of life," added Vita Activa’s Luisa Ortiz. "As a journalist there is nothing more healing than perceiving yourself as a profound, vulnerable and beautiful human being.”
Independent Latino Journalists Who Need Help Can Turn To:
Vita Activa: The group features a three-step guide to support and empower you should you face online harassment and gender-based digital violence.
Committee to Protect Journalists: When violations of press freedoms occur, CPJ can mobilize a network of correspondents who report and can take action on behalf of journalists.
PEN America Online Harassment Field Manual: This global organization offers strategies and resources that writers, journalists, allies and employers can use to defend against cyber hate and fight online abuse.
International Women’s Media Fund: The nonprofit organization offers safety training, reporting trips, and byline opportunities, all tailored to female journalists.
Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline: This is set up to work with individuals and organizations around the world, in nine languages, to protect journalists and others from unsafe online environments and digitial threats.
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Laura Olivieri Robles is an independent multimedia journalist. Olivieri was born in Puerto Rico, but lives in the diaspora. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN en Español and the New Scientist magazine. Olivieri also works as a responder for the nonprofit Vita Activa. You can find her on Twitter at @laurrioli.
Sofía Cerda Campero is a Mexican-American journalist and translator. Her work focuses on gender, Latin American politics, and immigration. She has written for The Daily Beast, NBC, Nexos (Mexico), and Chicas Poderosas, an organization that promotes the participation and leadership of women in the media. Raised in Mexico City, she has been living in Brooklyn for the past four years. Her Twitter is @sofia_cc