Daily Caller Uses Mariachi Photo To Represent Undocumented Immigrants
By Roque Planas, Huffington Post Latino Voices
The Daily Caller has got its own ideas about what undocumented immigrants look like.
An article published by the conservative publication Monday used a photo of mariachis to symbolize undocumented immigrants.
The article, covering the University of California at Los Angeles student body’s resolution to stop using the term “illegal immigrant,” featured a split photo, with one side showing an anti-illegal immigration protest and the other side featuring mariachis wearing wide-brimmed sombreros. The photo bears no caption that might help explain why the musicians should symbolize the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
Despite its inaccuracy, the image selection highlighted one of the issues described in the article.
The UCLA students’ resolution says “racially derogatory language used in media” has “historically bolstered the foundation for racially harmful actions including racial profiling.”
The Daily Caller took issue with the statement, writing: “The resolution does not explain how a term describing people from other countries who don’t have the right consular paperwork is racist.”
But the conservative publication proves the students’ point, using a stereotypical image of Mexicans to symbolize the undocumented immigrants as a group.
Mexicans accounted for 58 percent of the undocumented population in the United States as of 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Trends Project. Statistics for undocumented mariachis were not readily available, but they presumably do not make up a significant portion of undocumented Mexicans in particular or undocumented immigrants in general.
This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.
[Photo courtesy Huffington post Latino Voices]