Lautaro Grinspan
@lautarogrinspan
Followers
3K
Following
3K
Media
93
Statuses
2K
NEW: Over the past few months, I heard from several Mexican workers who are wondering: ‘Have I been trafficked?’ . They say they were hired for engineering jobs in Georgia, but instead were asked to do grueling assembly-line labor once here. 🧵.
51
1K
2K
Update: Several of the migrants I’ve been speaking with say they would have voted for Trump themselves. Most are folks who crossed the border illegally in the last 2-3 years. They don’t believe Trump will deport them, because they are here to work and are “not criminals.”.
I’m speaking with migrants outside Atlanta’s ICE field office about last night’s election results. “We’re fucked,” said the very first person I talked to, a woman from Nicaragua.
1K
4K
37K
I just spoke with 28yr-old Miamian Alex Garcia. He said he woke up today thinking he was going to vote for Trump BUT he changed his mind at the voting booth. He ended up picking Biden to “go back to normal.”. “I just want my Instagram to be about me again, and how good I look”.
933
3K
28K
Immigrants were trapped in “modern-day slavery” on South Georgia farms, per a federal indictment. Farmworker advocates say the alleged exploitation isn't surprising. “This keeps happening in GA but nobody sees it. All you see is your onions are at Kroger".
97
1K
2K
At today’s Nicaraguans-with-Biden caravan in Miami (led by @ananavarro), this sign is proving specially popular. “100% anti-communist, 100% anti-racist, 100% anti-fascist, 100% with Biden”
47
501
2K
I’m speaking with migrants outside Atlanta’s ICE field office about last night’s election results. “We’re fucked,” said the very first person I talked to, a woman from Nicaragua.
95
142
1K
1/ I spent the week chatting with Cuban-American @BernieSanders supporters (including a 78 yr old former anti-castrista figher & political prisoner in Cuba). They all think the senator’s recent comments about Fidel Castro are spot-on @MiamiHerald .
30
388
1K
2/ The workers described a bait-and-switch ploy, with GA companies turning to a little-known visa program to introduce cheap labor into the state’s auto industry. The men say they were recruited as engineers. They got a visa meant for engineers. But those jobs never existed.
1
106
361
4/ Another worker, José, spoke through tears. The son of farmworkers in Mexico, he had worked hard to become the first person in his family to go to college. The line assembly work he was met with in GA marked a return to a life of manual labor he thought he’d left behind.
3
72
304
5/ The workers’ stories call into question some of the hiring practices in Ga’s auto industry, whose growth has been supercharged by generous tax breaks. They also illustrate concerns around a fast-growing visa program, which experts say is ripe for abuse
3
78
297
3/ Heber Zapata was thrilled to accept a production engineering job in GA. The '18 college grad was hopeful the international work experience would help his career. But his Hyundai ID badge wound up including the words ‘pack mule.’ He was asked to put in 12-hour overnight shifts
2
78
303
7/ During Luis’ first night in GA, the employer-provided housing he’d been promised turned out to be a spot on the floor. “I laid there and I couldn’t sleep, out of frustration. I was thinking, ‘The only thing left would be for them to take us to the cotton fields tomorrow.’”.
7
59
281
1/ Over the course of the year, I spoke with distraught South Florida residents who say they’re losing older relatives to Spanish-language misinformation. Their stories are worth your time:. “My mom has become another person. This has destroyed my family”
18
162
271
NEW: A report published today documents in detail how misinformation was spread on Spanish-language radio in Miami the week of January 6. On occasion, the lies came from high-ranking officials.
27
163
260
Georgia's second-largest immigrant group faces cripplingly long waits for green cards, the result of a quota system put in place in the 1960s. "Many of us believe there are racist origins to those quotas," an Atlanta immigration lawyer told me.
18
186
284
6/ The Georgia companies that recruited the men I spoke with are still trying to find more workers in Mexico. A remarkable recording of a recent recruitment event captures some of the aspirational rhetoric at the heart of their pitch.
2
50
228
The scene in front of Versailles in Miami. I’m hearing from more and more Cuban-American protesters who invoke the military and say Trump should be kept in power “by force.”
151
100
225
4/ The takeaway? The Cuban-American electorate is increasingly *not* a monolith. “It’s not just a generational divide. It’s also a class divide and it’s a racial divide.” @MiamiHerald @report4america
3
67
201
Georgia in 2023: . • Received over 37,000 farmworkers from Latin America .• Employed just 3 inspectors to make sure worker housing was up to code . Our @ajc story on the deplorable living conditions of the people who grow our food (w/@caitlin_reports)⬇️
8
103
143
Large audiences. Little to no accountability. In the wake of the US Capitol siege, hosts of popular Spanish-language radio shows in Miami have returned to the business of spreading conspiracy theories. via @MiamiHerald w/@NewsbySmiley.
27
81
124
Just got off the phone with Caridad Gomez, who led a caravan of Trump supporters from Miami to DC to take part in the protests (they are now on the road on their way back). It was a chilling conversation:. “This was only the appetizer,” she said. “We are not going to take it.”.
16
102
129
3/ From an FIU student who left Cuba in ‘04: .“Ppl have this belief that every single Cuban is going crazy about this but I’m telling u for those of us who are recent migrants, and for those of us who were poor before the revolution, we don’t look at it the same way”.
1
25
134
1/ Every time I’ve been able to write about Spanish-language misinformation in Miami, I’ve heard painful stories from readers and local community members who say conspiracy theories have wreaked havoc among their families and radicalized loved ones.
4
35
131
2/ “My father lost his actual freedom,” said the son of the political prisoner, who also supports Sanders. “But even he doesn’t have that closed-minded, knee-jerk emotional reaction that most of the Cuban exile community has”.
2
28
129
Cubans4Trump co-founder Ariel Martinez just went on Radio Mambí, Miami’s leading Cuban-exile radio station, to spread a number of wild conspiracy theories about “election fraud.” . “This is literally a coup,” he said. (Martinez's claims went unchallenged by the program’s host).
35
72
116
1/ Same beat, new home base: . Starting in June, I will be covering Latino and immigrant communities in Atlanta for the @AJC and @report4america. I’m excited and very, very grateful for this opportunity.
With the pandemic, economic uncertainty and a reckoning on race having an outsized impact on Georgia's immigrant and international populations, @AJC is beefing up its efforts to cover those communities by partnering with @Report4America.
26
6
120
Meet the Miami-area immigrants who were able to become naturalized citizens *right before* FL’s voter registration deadline (which is TODAY). Getting to participate in this election means a hell of a lot to this group. An uplifting read for a change 👇.
3
37
85
1/ Ok, this one was *a lot* of fun to put together. For the @MiamiHerald, I checked in with Miami’s queer tango community, where all of the heteronormative rules of tango get thrown out. Ppl can dance with whoever they like. Anyone can lead & follow.
2
27
94
1/ I spoke to immigrants without legal permanent status in Miami about the way many of their neighbors, friends and relatives voted in 2020. They are more disappointed than surprised. “It feels a bit like betrayal” via @MiamiHerald.
16
39
83
Miriam Clemente was part of a small group of Trump supporters decrying fraud in Little Havana this afternoon. Were Biden to become president, she says she would . move back to Cuba. “If it’s between living under communism here or there, I might as well go back to my country.”
130
23
74
“I deal with a lot of white Latinos. They will not be happy with any type of protest. They want us to be invisible … We are not starting at zero, we are starting at negative 20.”. More from my convos with Latinx & Afro-Latinx activists for @MiamiHerald:
5
41
74
Editorial from @MiamiHerald based on my latest story about misinformation in Spanish-language media 👇. "The least we can expect from the people we elect to Congress is that they tell the truth about basic facts, such as who won the election.".
6
33
70
Btw I’m tentatively back online after being struck by a car back in November (while walking on the sidewalk! blocks away from home!). Thanks to all who have made their support felt since then. 💛.
14
0
78
New from the Census: .📉The number of Latinos who identify as white alone went down by over 50%.📈The number of Latinos reporting more than one race went up by over 500% (from 3 million to 20.3 million).
1
35
73
Miami folks, I have a story on this topic 👇 coming out tomorrow, thanks to all the South Florida families who shared their experiences with me over the course of the year.
1/ Every time I’ve been able to write about Spanish-language misinformation in Miami, I’ve heard painful stories from readers and local community members who say conspiracy theories have wreaked havoc among their families and radicalized loved ones.
3
6
65
Here’s what was on the mind of one of the few Biden voters I found this morning in heavily-Republican Little Havana.
5
5
62
1/ Argentinian empanadas, Guatemalan bread, Colombian arepas . More and more Miami immigrants are turning to their home kitchens to weather the economic crisis. "We couldn't afford to just sit there and do nothing" @MiamiHerald
3
23
63
Want more Miami whimsy in your life? Subscribe to the Herald! 👇.@MiamiHerald: @elnuevoherald:
3
5
57
For years, Andrea Hinojosa has driven South Georgia undocumented farmworkers to doctor appointments in Jacksonville. Starting next month, those trips could land her in jail, courtesy of a FL crackdown on illegal immigration. “It's another fear factor.".
4
52
53
One thing I learned while working on this story is that Georgia law *blocks* undocumented residents from enrolling in free English classes. Seems to be one of just two states with that policy. (Next time someone asks why they don’t just learn English. )
3
27
57
The problem: many immigrants who live in FL can’t get vaccinated because of the state’s proof of residency requirements. The solution: have local governments create community ID programs, open to all. That’s exactly what Broward County did this week 👇
5
24
52
Wow. On @ActualidadRadio, a popular Spanish-language radio station in Miami, afternoon hosts Carines Moncada and Agustin Acosta just repeated as fact all the conspiracy theories from today’s Giuliani press conference on ‘voter fraud.’. "This could end in bloodshed," Acosta said.
11
34
57
1/ Please take a moment to read the stories of Miami’s undocumented domestic workers. Many are reeling from devastating job losses, and they won’t get a cent of relief money from the government. “We’re in crisis”.@MiamiHerald @report4america.
5
55
58
Seeing more and more Latin American TikTokers sampling audio from Shakira’s Super Bowl performance to comment on Miami vaccine tourism:
4
14
51
Tinder screenshot for anyone who thinks the situation in Florida will get better anytime soon 🥴
4
16
55
This short clip from last night's Cubans4Trump vigil at a Miami megachurch is . pretty representative of what the whole thing was like. (I can truly think of no other way to set this up):
Cubans4Trump is hosting a “night of prayer for the nation” next week at a Miami-area church. “Join us for a night of prayer and worship as we ask our Lord Christ to intercede in this 2020 election,” the event description reads.
21
24
54
Once a solid Republican voter, Norlys Alvarez will back Joe Biden in 2020. Why?. When her nephew Pedro came to the US from Cuba to seek political asylum, the Trump admin detained him for 2.5 years in "appalling" conditions.
11
29
50
Grateful to @MiamiHerald for giving undocumented plant nursery workers front-page treatment today.
1
9
52
In Atlanta and struggling to get a #monkeypox vaccine appointment? . This may be why: As of July 20, Georgia had only requested about 40% of its total vax allocation. 13,876 doses allocated but only 5,985 requested, according to @HHSGov.
4
39
41
NEW: Afro-Latinos in Miami share their thoughts on the ongoing Hispanic backlash against BLM. Some think a real racial reckoning in their community is slipping further and further away. “It hasn’t gotten any better. Are you crazy? It’s gotten worse.”.
4
29
47
3/ What hurts families is knowing that conspiracy theories – especially around Democrats’ supposed embrace of socialism and communism – are causing older relatives to relive long-held trauma. “My grandma feels like she is fighting for her life.”
2
13
41
Me (naive): I’m gonna treat myself to a walk by the water and not think about the election for THIRTY MINUTES.The walk by the water:
4
6
50
NEW: I spoke with democratic socialists in Miami (many of them 2nd-generation Latinos w/ immigrant roots) about the barrage of anti-socialism rhetoric that's keeping them up at night. “It feels unsafe for me to be vocal about my views.” .@MiamiHerald .
6
16
43
let the thirst traps wash over us.
I just spoke with 28yr-old Miamian Alex Garcia. He said he woke up today thinking he was going to vote for Trump BUT he changed his mind at the voting booth. He ended up picking Biden to “go back to normal.”. “I just want my Instagram to be about me again, and how good I look”.
1
6
46
1/ Earlier this month, one of the very few liberal Latino voices on air in Miami was controversially ousted. His listeners say that the current state of FL Spanish-language radio reminds them of the media hegemony they left behind in places like Cuba.
4
23
40
Yesterday, @taveljimena and I spent hours at Latino-led, pro-Trump demonstrations in Miami, where ppl wrongfully insisted the election is far from over. A dispatch from that alternate universe via @MiamiHerald:.
9
25
45
2/ A big problem, according to the families I interviewed, is that a significant amount of the misinformation is coming from well-known local radio personalities. These are people who have given abuelos across Miami a sense of community and belonging for years.
1
12
38
“I’m willing to give my life to save this country. If it had been me getting shot yesterday, I would have been happy,” added Gomez (who said her group didn’t actually go inside the Capitol).
5
19
36
7/ All the people interviewed agreed on one thing: countering the misinformation is difficult. No one has figured out how to make their loved ones see through the conspiracies. “She told me, ‘I’ve never been more disappointed in you. I can’t believe you think I’m a liar.’”
2
12
32
Shockingly, in a story about "ceaseless vaccine tourism," Argentina's biggest newspaper @clarincom is reporting that vaccination in Miami is "open to foreign tourists.". That is, of course, false. Florida residency requirements are still in place.
4
25
45
1/ “There’s fear of not being accepted, of being unfriended online, of no longer being invited to things. There’s fear of being seen as someone who supports socialism.”. My @MiamiHerald story on the challenges of being both pro-Biden *and* Venezuelan: .
8
20
38
White populations declined substantially across many of the Atlanta suburbs that became majority-minority in 2020, per the census. "It's got to be about race. Because, what else would it be about? These are good schools, safe neighborhoods." via @ajc.
4
22
39
A group of Argentine tourists came to FL for a 10-day beach vacation. With return flights canceled, they are now stranded in Miami, riding out a global pandemic in an abandoned, rat- & roach-infested house. ‘We have nothing,’ they told me. @MiamiHerald
10
37
41
Argentina fans celebrating the win in downtown Atlanta earlier today 🇦🇷🇺🇸
1
5
40
“Democrats talk about Trump saying he is going to deport everyone, but that doesn’t really scare us. Everybody knows that’s a lie, that he’s not going to do it. We know Trump just says those things to get the gringos’ votes.".
8
18
37
Many thanks to the dozens(!) of @MiamiHerald readers who got in touch today offering to help the stranded tourists featured in our story. And special thanks to the eager exterminator who wrote in:
A group of Argentine tourists came to FL for a 10-day beach vacation. With return flights canceled, they are now stranded in Miami, riding out a global pandemic in an abandoned, rat- & roach-infested house. ‘We have nothing,’ they told me. @MiamiHerald
1
9
41
4/ By the time Armando’s grandfather died last year, he had stopped being the man he’d grown up with. “Those final moments I had with him, if they weren’t taken up by him obsessing over these political things … What could we have talked about instead?”
1
8
31
6/ Last summer, fearmongering about the Black Lives Matter movement in Spanish-language media contributed to community members’ paranoia. “It was an extreme fear.”
3
13
29
Georgia officials were bribed by the alleged criminal organization that subjected migrant farmworkers to “modern-day slavery,” according to testimony from a federal agent via @USATODAY.
0
29
36
More than six months into the pandemic, taxpaying undocumented workers are *still* excluded from COVID-19 economic relief. That exclusion is devastating immigrant families. It is also slowing down FL’s recovery, experts say. My latest for @MiamiHerald:
3
30
34
1/ NEW: Across Miami-Dade, Latino advocates are ringing the alarm about vaccine misinformation and mistrust. Some of the anti-vaccine rhetoric is being disseminated from the pulpit of local evangelical churches via @MiamiHerald.
8
44
32
Some people have journalism awards, I have the fact that @chrissyteigen once referenced my "work" on Instagram. Year ago today.
I just spoke with 28yr-old Miamian Alex Garcia. He said he woke up today thinking he was going to vote for Trump BUT he changed his mind at the voting booth. He ended up picking Biden to “go back to normal.”. “I just want my Instagram to be about me again, and how good I look”.
1
2
35
I met a Ga. voter who is "completely stuck.". She's a diehard Republican but she's terrified of Trump's mass deportations pledge (her husband is undocumented). “Do I sacrifice my husband in order to stay afloat in a decent economy? Why can’t I have both?”.
28
9
31
Spent some time with a Latina priest on a mission to convince people in her community to get vaccinated. We spoke about what changes people's minds, and what doesn't. "I’ve stopped parroting the point of loving your neighbor as yourself." via @ajc.
2
16
29
5/ Experts think that claims of a stolen election or of an illegitimate president – which have gone mainstream in the rightwing misinformation ecosystem – can take a particularly damaging toll among immigrant communities.
2
13
26
Tagged along with some canvassers registering new Latino voters in Miami. Some lessons:.• this is *really* hard work.• harsh rhetoric on immigration is making canvassers’ job more difficult.• of all Latino communities, Cubans are the easiest to register
0
14
30
At Miami protest, Sebastian from Colombia calls out fellow Latinos: “I think the first step for all Latinos in order to help the Black Lives Matters movement is to recognize that there’s a lot of racism in our community and we also unfortunately spew that venom out”
0
16
33
Ailiyah, a Miami-based sex worker, says “it’s been really scary” to meet clients while COVID-19 rages on. “But I’m a hustler first,” she added. “I still engage in sex work because at the end of the day I need to pay my bills.” @MiamiHerald
2
25
35
“La unica fe que tenemos es el ejército”, dice Lydia Calzado, cubana que se mudó a Miami en 1994. “The only hope we have left is the military.”
13
13
32
Over the past month, I’ve been speaking with young Black, brown and white Latinx ppl about how they’ve been pushing their parents to confront racism amid #BlackLivesMatter protests. Lots of good insights for people in a similar situation 👇@MiamiHerald.
7
15
31
Confusingly, @radiomambi710 host Lourdes Ubieta started her interview with @MarioDB this afternoon by thanking him "on behalf of all Venezuelans" for helping make TPS happen this week. He replied that "we got that done at the end of the Trump admin . TPS under another name.".
13
10
32
This is what the audience of Radio Mambí, Miami’s leading Cuban-exile radio station, is listening to as the Capitol is on lockdown:.
Mambí featured guest is currently defending the current coup attempt. "They've stolen three elections in our faces. We're not going to allow it. They [rioters] haven't attacked anyone. They've attacked the government.".
1
30
28
On Instagram last night, @AOC warned Latinos that there’s “a massive Spanish-language misinformation campaign going on right now online . I want you to talk to your Spanish-speaking family & check in & make sure that stuff hasn’t gotten through to them bc there’s a lot of it.”
30
10
32
The scene in front of El Arepazo this evening, where about two dozen Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans rallied in celebration of Biden’s TPS decision. “Promise kept: TPS for Venezuela”
1
14
31
Labor advocates say poultry plants prefer to hire undocumented immigrants because they can be more easily squeezed from the workers' comp system if and when they get hurt. "They do whatever they want with us," an injured worker told me.
26
14
24
3/ And from another former listener, also Cuban, who says Miami Spanish-language radio stations are turning into "propaganda outlets:" . "Miami is looking more and more like what we fled. We fled the dominance of a single line of thinking or a single ideology.".
3
6
28
Immigrants are overrepresented among essential workers in Florida. That's . completely unsurprising, experts say. "Roles that are higher-risk and with lower wages are going to be dominated by vulnerable groups" @MiamiHerald @report4america
0
11
24
1/ Workers at Costa Farms, a leading producer of ornamental plants, told me that unsafe working conditions are a big reason why many of them (and their families) are getting sick with COVID-19. @MiamiHerald @Report4America .
1
23
25
Georgia's only automaker, Kia, has now also been accused of exploiting Mexican workers lured to the U.S. via fake job offers.
0
26
25
1/ On Miami Spanish-language radio (@LaPoderosa670), former Hialeah mayor Julio Martinez said that "if the communists get in and I'm talking about Joe Biden because I consider him communist . there will be a civil war here.".
13
17
24
1/ The elderly couple I spoke with for this @MiamiHerald story said it was cheaper to fly to the D.R. every few yrs and get dental work done there than to see a dentist in Miami. “It’s embarrassing to smile and have people notice that a tooth is missing”.
5
21
22
Before the arrival of COVID-19, South Florida was already the national epicenter of *another* kind of infectious disease: AIDS. Advocates say the pandemic could now make matters worse. “We have to keep our eye on the ball.” @MiamiHerald @report4america.
1
16
25
Landlords in Miami-Dade, Broward & Palm Beach filed 2,170 eviction cases in August, far more than in any of the prior 4 months. A month ago, Gov. DeSantis tweaked FL's eviction moratorium, narrowing its scope of protections for renters. This is the result:
0
14
20
This is what “I-just-got-vaccinated” texts from grandparents in Argentina look like 🚀
0
0
25
1/ Farmworker advocates say abuse on Georgia farms will only stop when farmers & business owners are actually held responsible for benefitting from exploited labor. That’s not what we saw in the recent "modern-day slavery" bust via @ajc.
1
28
24
Rural Georgia has lost over 100,000 residents since 2010. The only population bucking the trend and moving in: Latinos. via @ajc.
2
15
21
NEW: Getting FL immigrants to participate in a Trump-era census will be *very* challenging. “We’ve been spending 364 days of the year telling ppl, ‘Don’t open the door because it might be ICE.' Now we have to say ‘Open the door & make sure u are counted.’”
4
18
22