Univision 34 and Telemundo 52 are local Los Angeles Spanish-language channels that offer news and entertainment. The channels serve the region’s Spanish-speaking populations, many of whom belong to Latino and immigrant communities. Since March, both Univision 34 and Telemundo 52 have been airing the Department of Homeland Security’s ads wherein Secretary Kristi Noem “warns” “illegal aliens” not to arrive in the United States and to deport themselves.
On March 15, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an “international, multimillion-dollar ad campaign” that has been running on radio, broadcast, and digital. According to the DHS, the ad warns “illegal aliens to not come to America and break its laws or they will be hunted down and deported.”
The campaign has been running for five months. The two most popular ads are the videos “WARNING-Domestic” and “WARNING-International,” wherein Secretary Noem stands in front of United States flags as she provides her “warnings.”
Her speech is intercut with visuals of ICE agents—many of them fair-skinned—detaining Black and Brown men. One intercut video shows darker-skinned individuals running in what appears to be a desert.