Immigration journalists and other experts shared insights on how to navigate rapidly changing policies under the Trump administration during a panel at Annenberg Hall today.
“There’s so much that’s changing so fast it’s hard to keep up with even for those of us who follow this,” said Annenberg professor Leslie Berestein Rojas, who moderated the “Immigration 2025: What we know, what to expect, and how to cover it,” discussion.
Berestein Rojas, director of audio news in the Annenberg Media Center and a longtime immigration journalist, mentioned recent developments like Venezuelan immigrants being deported to be jailed in El Salvador, and the recent arrests of students protesters who spoke out against the war in Gaza by immigration officials.
The panelists talked about reporting on vulnerable communities and humanizing sources amid changing immigration policies while reporting fairly and accurately.
Niels Frenzen, a law professor and co-director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, noted how changing immigration policies are playing out on college campuses as hundreds of student visas are canceled.
“One of the things that has been happening nationwide is universities have been getting notification that visas or other aspects of what international students (are) required to maintain in order to be in legal status are being terminated,” he said.
Mid-panel, from the audience, Media Center Director and journalism professor Christina Bellantoni announced she’d just learned that eight additional students’ visas were revoked in Arizona.
Events similar to these seem to be happening quickly, and reporting on these stories can be difficult. Rachel Uranga, who covers immigration for the Los Angeles Times, explained her approach.
“The only thing I can do is build trust and relationships,” Uranga said, adding that it helps “the closer you are to people, the more that you understand about the system and the circumstances that they’re in, and that you’re respectful.”
LAist journalist Brian De Los Santos also shared some his experience.
“There’s so much misinformation and disinformation--disinformation that people just get confused about,” he said, adding that it helps to just have a conversation.
“‘Hey, do you know about this? Would you want to talk to me about your case or your experience?’ And we go from there,” De Los Santos said.
Pedro Trujillo, director of organizing for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and a member of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant service providers that has nity hotline, also touched on how misinformation about immigration arrests spreads on social media.
He mentioned one recent example:
“Unfortunately, during the fires here in Pasadena, we were getting calls once the federal government showed up. We’re getting calls of people reporting that immigration was in Pasadena,” he said. “We sent out our trained volunteers to go check it out...and it’s just that people were mistakenly reporting FEMA vehicles.”
He said because the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, their vehicles carry the same seal, which can alarm people if they’re already on high alert.
Trujillo also told student journalists that it’s important to be mindful of a story’s framing when reporting on immigrants.
“One of the things that we’ve noticed is that we’re back again seeing some of the reports that immigrants where they are literally photographed in the shadows and using language around, you know, asking about if they’re afraid, and the framing is already on that...to describe their fear, and going deeper into that, and it’s it doesn’t show the complexities of people,” Trujillo said.
All the panelists stressed fact-checking and seeking out reliable sources. Trujillo said the Rapid Response Network routinely checks out rumors that come in from calls and on social media.
“We just have to tell folks that we...can only protect each other and go to reliable sources,” said Trujillo said.
One way to reach the Rapid Response Network is via info@chirla.org.