Media Matters for America Condemns Anti-Refugee Rhetoric After Paris Terrorists

Media Matters for America Condemns Anti-Refugee Rhetoric After Paris Terrorists ---

http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2015/11/17/hispanic-media-decry-anti-immigrant-sentiment-u/206919

http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2015/11/17/hispanic-media-decry-anti-immigrant-sentiment-u/206919

Hispanic Media Decry Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Underlying Anti-Refugee Rhetoric

CRISTINA LOPEZ

Leading voices in Hispanic journalism are condemning the rise of anti-refugee rhetoric following the terrorist attacks in Paris, pointing out how the underlying sentiment reflects conservative media's typical nativist and anti-immigrant bias that has effectively cast all immigrants as "terrorists and criminals, without reforming a system that would allow us to know" who among us poses an actual threat.

In the wake of the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere, a number of Republican presidential candidates, governors, and media figures have used the Islamic State violence to fearmonger about Muslims and Islam. Many on the right are calling for the U.S. to deny entry to Muslim Syrian refugees, claiming they would pose a significant threat to the U.S., despite the fact that major media have slammed Republicans for "def[ying] what the nation stands for" and pushing divisive rhetoric that could "provide propaganda benefits to the Islamic State."

In a November 17 column, La Opinión's editorial board condemned Republican presidential candidates and governors who "want to close the door on 10,000 Syrian refugees for fear of terrorist infiltrators,"