via Huffington Post

Ever wonder why so many people in the United States fear immigrants?

As Congress debates an ambitious bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, Cuéntame takes a stab at answering that question in a new video titled “Deport Hate.”

Featuring interviews with prominent Latino voices in media like La Opinión journalist Pilar Marrero, O.C. Weekly Editor Gustavo Arellano and Latino Rebels founder Julio Ricardo Varela, the video takes a look at how immigrants, particularly the undocumented, wind up stigmatized in the media.

“The last serious effort for immigration reform, which happened 2006-2007, was stopped by a minority – these very extremist, nativist groups,” Marrero says.

That minority drums up fear of immigrants by painting them as invaders who will destroy the American way of life, the video argues.

via Voxxi

Axel Caballero says efforts to pass an immigration reform bill in recent years have stalled as a result of the anti-immigrant rhetoric and the negative perceptions of undocumented immigrants.

Caballero said that instead of moving forward with a sensible solution to fix the nation’s broken immigration system, there’s been a recent wave of harsh enforcement tactics.

These tactics, he said, have led to a record number of deportations, the separation of families, the exploitation of undocumented workers and the unjust treatment of unauthorized immigrants.

“We’re sick and tired of the anti-immigrant rhetoric,” he told VOXXI. “It’s loud, it’s noisy and it’s really not helping anyone.”

Campaign rejects hate against undocumented immigrants

The 33-year-old filmmaker is on a mission to “deport” the negative attitudes and hate some Americans have against undocumented immigrants. He also wants to expose what’s fueling the anti-immigrant sentiment and who is being affected by it.

Caballero plans to do so through an online campaign titled “Deport Hate.”

The campaign, launched this month, consists of a series of documentaries. The first documentary was released last week. It touches on “five ways anti-immigrant hate makes its way into media and policy.”

Caballero said that more importantly, the campaign is meant to change the conversation on immigration and promote a positive dialogue on immigration reform.

“Through ‘Deport Hate,’ we want to influence people to get out of the mentality of hate against immigrants and into the mentality that the future is better with the passage of immigration reform,” he told VOXXI.

When asked about the name of the campaign, Caballero said it came from the idea of wanting to “deport” the hateful and anti-immigrant rhetoric instead of undocumented immigrants.

The “Deport Hate” campaign is one of the recent documentary projects that have surfaced as momentum grows for immigration reform.

“The Dream is Now“ is another recent immigration-related documentary. It touches on the struggles undocumented youth face and how their future hinges on legislation that would legalize their status. The 30-minute documentary premiered Sunday on MSNBC and is now available online.

via Huffington Post

Immigration hardliners can count one roundly condemned group among their adherents: neo-Nazis.

It may come as news to some, but the United States still boasts a National Socialist Movement. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Detroit, the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the National Socialist Movement as a hate group. According the the SPLC’s website, the National socialist movement says “only hetereosexual ‘pure-blood whites’ should be allowed U.S. citizenship and that all nonwhites should be deported, regardless of legal status.”

via Huffington Post

These are some Latino names you'll want to remember.

"The Social Revolución," an event at the South by Southwest Interaction Festival in Austin, announced its award winners on Thursday, a day before the conference kicks off. With awards in three categories, the Social Revolución honors the achievements of emerging and established voices in the Latino community who are making an impact online.

Check out the winners below:

The Mobilizer

Axel Cabellero (@axelwcaballero) is the director and producer of Cuéntame (@MyCuentame), a nonprofit media company covering Latino issues, as well as a driving force behind Spanish-language news blog Metáfora Política.

via Raw Story

The wife and son of a deported undocumented immigrant exhorted President Barack Obama to cut down on his administration’s deportation policy in a video released by an alliance between the Latino advocacy group Cuéntame and other organizations.

“For me, the main thing is having the family together,” Josefina Mora said in Spanish in the video, released Tuesday night. “It’s the basis for the whole family. If he’s not with us, our family’s torn apart, it’s destroyed. My sons need him. They have medical issues. And I know that, like us, there are thousands and thousands of families going through the same situation of pain and anguish.”

image via In These Times

One Superbowl ad—Dodge Truck's "God Made a Farmer"—generated a buzz and quite a fewspoofs for its "shameless heartland pandering," as one response video from FunnyOrDie.com put it. This spoof (above), from Cuentame (the Latino Instigators), corrects Dodge's ad, saluting the people who actually do most of the hard work. Hint: It's not white males who can afford a$20,000 pickup truck.

*Link to original story: http://inthesetimes.com/video/14560/god_made_a_farmworker/

via Fox Sport Radio 620 

So while the Budweiser and Go Daddy Super Bowl ads caught most of the attention from the Super Bowl this year, one of the critic's favorite ads seemed to be the Dodge/Chrysler ad, that used the legendary voice of Paul Harvey.

The Dodge ad - which was adapted from a 2011 Farms.com video tribute to farmers - also seemed to forget the realities of farming today, as Kay Steiger of Raw Story pointed out. Facts like 72 percent of all farm workers in America today are foreign born, and 22 percent are female, didn't seem to make it into the original commercial.

CUÉNTAME PLANTS SEEDS OF CHANGE FOR LATINO FARMWORKERS WITH CREATIVE REVISION OF POPULAR SUPER BOWL AD

via NuvoTv

The Latino political organization Cuéntame believes American Latinos were tossed a bad throw during Super Bowl XLVII.

The fumble play in question: Chrysler’s moody tribute to American farmers via its artsy Super Bowl ad for its Dodge Ram Trucks.

 via SF Gate

After seeing Dodge Ram’s popular “God Made a Farmer” commercial during the Super Bowl, members of one Latino rights group were dismayed at the limited portrayal of minorities in the photo montage that accompanied radio broadcaster Paul Harvey’s speech.

So, the nonprofit Cuentame teamed up with another group, Latino Rebels, to make its own version of the ad, the Huffington Post reports.