Surprise! Amnesty in reward of illegal immigration is not the only lawlessness being promoted in Univision news coverage. The nation’s top Spanish-language network also recently featured favorable coverage of advocates of another amnesty, one that would forgive fines to drivers whose licenses has been suspended in California due to unpaid traffic violations.
Univision, ignoring criticism of the proposed amnesty by groups including the non-partisan Legislative Analysis Office (LAO) of the State of California and law enforcement officials, only aired voices favoring the measure, advocated among others by Joseph Villela, legislative director of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).
Villela argued the measure should be approved because minorities get more fines. A claim that Univision correspondent, Jaime García, said proves the current system of fines does not work.
JOSEPH VILLELA, CHIRLA LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: The evidence we have is that the majority of people who get the most tickets for infractions, are people of color, African-Americans and Latinos.
JAIME GARCIA, CORRESPONDENT: This proves the infraction system, that currently carries with it additional charges, is not working.
California Governor Jerry Brown is defending this new amnesty, in the hopes of bringing in a boost in revenue to pay for police training. However, according to the LAO, it was found that “the administration’s revenue estimates appear too high... and may negatively impact the collection of court-ordered debt in the future” because it will have the effect of teaching law-abiding citizens who normally pay for their infractions to wait for yet another amnesty. “Thus, we recommend the Legislature reject the Governor’s proposed traffic amnesty program.”
The referenced portion of Noticiero Univisión is transcribed below.
Noticiero Univisión 06/23/2015 6:30 PM
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR: California would restitute the driver’s licenses of more than 4 million people, whose privileges have been suspended due to unpaid traffic tickets. The state would give a limited amnesty to reduce their debt, depending on income. The measure is in response to constant complaints by many drivers for excessively expensive fines.
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JOSEPH VILLELA, CHIRLA LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: The Governor has indicated that he thinks there should be an amnesty for these people, so they can pay or simply have their infractions forgiven and start over.
JAIME GARCIA, CORRESPONDENT: At the moment there are two main proposals. The first is an amnesty for people who got tickets for infractions that did not endanger public safety. The second is to reduce by half the amount of the fine for those people whose debts, due to interest, has reached up thousands of dollars.
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JAIME GARCIA, CORRESPONDENT: Those advocating for this amnesty, note that official data indicates the amount of unpaid fines is around $10 billion.
JOSEPH VILLELA, CHIRLA LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: The evidence we have is that the majority of people who get the most tickets for infractions, are people of color, African-Americans and Latinos.
JAIME GARCIA, CORRESPONDENT: This proves the infraction system that currently carries with it additional charges, is not working.
