The leading Latino activist website Latino Rebels has slammed the Boston Globe and its columnist Kevin Cullen for alleged discrimination against Latino undocumented compared to how the paper writes about Irish illegals.
The group, founded by activist Julio Ricardo Varela, says “This is not the first time we have raised the issue of how the so-called “liberal” Boston Globe has had this ongoing problem of propping up and decriminalizing Irish immigrants over Latin American ones.
The Sad (and Dangerous) Case of @BostonGlobe's 'Irish Immigrant Privilege' https://t.co/VD8LltFQih
— Julio Ricardo Varela (@julito77) June 23, 2017
“You can read what we wrote in 2013, where it was clear that when it comes to how the newspaper depicts undocumented Irish immigrants, they are never “illegal” or “criminals,” but when it comes to Latin American ones, well, that’s a different story.”
“Earlier this week, we were alerted to the Globe’s “Irish Immigrant Privilege” once again when our founder tweeted” [about it].
The issue has arisen over a sympathetic portrayal by ace columnist Kevin Cullen of the case of John Cunningham, a Boston-area former head of the GAA there who was arrested two weeks ago. It has since transpired that Cunningham had an arrest warrant for allegedly cashing checks for work he never did with his electrical business.
Because he was so prominent there was widespread coverage in Boston and Ireland of his arrest, though the reason for it made far more sense after news of a warrant for his arrest related to the check cashing became public.
Latino Rebels has now taken the Boston Globe to task In their article “The Sad (and Dangerous) Case of Boston Globe’s ‘Irish Immigrant Privilege’’
They quoted Cullen’s column which stated: “If John Cunningham is not safe, no one is safe.”
Latino Rebels commented “Cullen’s piece focused on how the Trump administration was now going after Irish immigrants like Cunningham and how morally wrong it was. As much as we agree that Cunningham’s story is tragic, it didn’t help that Cullen downplayed Cunningham’s undocumented status, especially when the Globe has a had a real history of always emphasizing a Latin American immigrant criminality.”
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The website gave three examples where they claimed the Globe emphasized the criminal history of Latinos but treated the Irish undocumented stories utterly differently.
The article continues:
“Yes, the “liberal” Globe has had no problem portraying Latin American immigrants in the same light as President Trump does
“Coincidentally (or was it?), just two days after Cullen wrote about Cunningham, the Globe columnist published a similar story about Francisco Rodríguez, called “If Francisco Rodriguez is deported, we will be a smaller, meaner nation.”
Looks like @GlobeCullen got message about his solely focusing on Irish undocumented in Boston. He just wrote this https://t.co/VhkXCtwMqx
— Julio Ricardo Varela (@julito77) June 22, 2017
“The publication of Rodríguez’s story almost immediately after Cunningham’s story felt too forced, especially since sources from Boston’s immigration rights community tell Latino Rebels that the story was pitched to Cullen after he wrote the Cunningham one because of the very same reason we raised: that the Globe loves to romanticize Irish immigrants over Latin American immigrants in Boston.”
The activist group also pointed out that John Kelly, the current Department of Homeland Security secretary is an Irish American from Boston.
“That is the issue Cullen wouldn’t want you to know right now—one of the Boston’s Irish Own is actually one of Trump’s top immigration enforcers...” the article ends.
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