- 9 minutes ago
In this segment, we analyze the results in key states such as Florida and the impact of the Hispanic vote alongside international law analyst Ivonne Reyes. We take an in-depth look at the Trump administration’s immigration policies, violations of international law, the geopolitical consequences in Latin America, and the background behind the measures targeting migrants.
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00:00We're going to be joined now by another expert. She's Yvonne Tellez. She's a political analyst and expert on international
00:07law.
00:08Hello, Yvonne. Pleasure to greet you and thank you very much for your time and being here with us tonight.
00:14Thank you for the invitation.
00:16At this very moment, Yvonne, we were analyzing the results in Florida, which is a stronghold of Republicans.
00:24These results were expected as well. But the thing that has changed this political landscape in Florida is that the
00:34Democratic Party has put up a fight and have been speaking on behalf of progressivism.
00:41So what are your assessments? What are your lectures, your readings? What can we take from this result?
00:51Well, I think that what we're seeing here is a result of how Trump has failed to uphold his promises
01:01during his campaign.
01:03Because those were the lines that were appealing even to the immigrants, even to the Cuban or to the Venezuelan
01:13or the Latino community, as the other colleague was stating before.
01:19That is, there is a very strong feeling against the Democrats regarding probably the alignment that they could have, or
01:32at least the closeness that they could have to the progressive movement around Latin America.
01:41So I think that right now, the results here are, in a way, kind of a punishment vote regarding how
01:51Trump has failed to uphold these promises or these economic promises and also has begun, I'm sorry, restraining the basic
02:05liberties and guarantees for the immigrants in the United States.
02:10I think that also the campaigns against the own Latino community, the own countries could be seen as a certain,
02:22and I say this with very great, very big attention.
02:30Because I think what we're seeing here maybe is kind of an awakening of those feelings against the same state
02:42that is being so repressive and so, what would be the word?
02:53So distanced from the real needs, even from the Latino community that are the ones that have been very strong
03:02and have been like, I think, the population that has uphold the Republicans within states such as Florida.
03:12I think this could be a lecture, a reading that we can give to this first impression on how the
03:21results of the elections are coming up.
03:23We were speaking about the Latino voters and previously we were analysing with Adrian Pine, our expert here in our
03:30studio, that in the 2024 race for the presidency, Donald Trump got the attention of the Latino voters, but is
03:41happening otherwise precisely in these mid-term elections.
03:44One main reason is deputations, one main reason is deputations, one main reason is deputations, one main reason is deputations,
03:50massive deputations and ICE operations on the migrants of the country.
03:57To what extent can we say that precisely anti-immigration policies have been decisive in, is going to be decisive
04:08in today's outcome?
04:10Well, I think that one of the main issues here that we're discussing is credibility.
04:17And this is one of the things that Trump hasn't shown at all, because we are right now kind of
04:28a little bit accustomed or used to the surprises that he brings every time and again, right?
04:39So we know that despite the fact that he could be facing a real challenge regarding the Senate and the
04:49House of Representatives here, he's used to govern through executive orders.
04:56He's not very used to follow the rule of law.
04:59So I bring this here because I think the change regarding the discourse and what the ICE has been doing,
05:12precisely this branch of the government that has been materializing all this immigration policy reflects, of course,
05:25that this is an unhumanized way to treat people more than that was expected, also because people have faced and
05:35have seen and have proven that what they fear the most is what has been tackling and acting against them.
05:44So probably one of the reasons for the Latino vote was because they thought that these measures that he announced
05:53wouldn't happen to them.
05:55But in the end, they were completely or I think people are completely aware right now that all the measures
06:03do not have any complaints.
06:05I mean, do not have any preferences against whom they are directed to.
06:12So I think that this fact and the fact, for example, as you were stating before, of how, for example,
06:21immigrants are being sent to Africa or to other countries.
06:25I mean, this is a very harsh way to demonstrate that these policies do not bear any precautions or are
06:39willing to uphold human rights law or even domestic law.
06:43So in this sense, I think that this vote comes along with a kind of fear that what has been
06:52happening to my neighbor could happen to me because there's no distinction.
06:56So I think that this is a very strong message within the United States that could be, well, showing the
07:06discontent towards this big, big restraint on human rights and, of course, to migration.
07:15Yvonne, we have been witnessing for almost over two years the way in which migrants have been treated nationwide, most
07:25particularly perhaps in certain states such as California, such as Texas as well, Florida as well,
07:31in which people have been persecuted and taken from their work spaces, taken from their vehicles as well, without a
07:43warrant.
07:43We have been witnessing as well, with great pain, the separation, the forced separation of parents from their children.
07:52And in this sense, what are the legal protections that migrants detain should have?
08:01And what are the concerns that this way in which they are treated have been arised?
08:08And what is the analysis that you can make precisely as a legal expert?
08:16Well, what we have seen regarding these measures that are indiscriminate and target children, women, vulnerable populations,
08:32there's, well, we have like two big frameworks.
08:36One is human rights law, international human rights law, international public law.
08:43And the domestic laws that govern this, this issues.
08:49Migration has a close link with human rights.
08:53And that is that none, no one could be deemed illegal.
08:59That's, that's like the basis, that's the baseline.
09:03So whenever the, the migration, because, okay, there's another, another idea here.
09:11And the state has the sovereignty to call and to draw and to design the migration policies that the state
09:20wishes,
09:21but within, within the observance and the acknowledgement of the laws that govern it.
09:30And that is domestic law and international law.
09:32Yes, there is a, there is, it is true that the United States, United States does not belong to many
09:46treaties regarding migration and regarding the treatment of aliens.
09:53Yes, yes, that's true.
09:55Yes, that's true.
09:55But that doesn't mean that the United States is not bound by, for example, international customary law or other obligations
10:03under international law.
10:05In that sense, migration policies within any state could not, could not disobey what the norms regarding the basic dignity
10:22and the basic freedoms of migrants and could not be targeted and applied as if someone was illegal.
10:31Because the, the, the, the, the migration or the migratory status of, of a person is something that is deemed
10:38and has to be treated as an admin, as an administrative issue, but not a legal issue and non, and
10:50not a criminal issue.
10:51So, the mix that has, that has, that the United States under Trump has been upholding and has been applying,
10:59and that is treating someone as illegal and treating someone with the administrative measures, but within the criminal law.
11:10And, and, and for example, and for example, and for example, and for example, restricting liberties and all these kinds
11:15of measures.
11:15And as you were saying, for example, separating families, treating children, uh, as adults, because this is another line that
11:24has, uh, another, another limit that the law has.
11:27So, what this has been doing, this mixture of measures is, um, like mixing different, uh, aspects of the law
11:37that could not be, uh, joined here to treat, uh, or to apply the migratory policies.
11:45So, that is, in fact, um, and we can see, uh, very, a high number of violations of human rights
11:53law.
11:54Also, for example, when we talk about children, they are, um, protected by special international law policies and human rights
12:05law policies regarding, um, children and adolescents.
12:09So, that is another line that has been trespassed.
12:12The, but the, the, the problem here and the big problem is that international law is, uh, a law of
12:19politics, a lot, a law of states.
12:22And if states are unwilling to abide their obligations and are unwilling to provide the respect that the international legal
12:31order, uh, calls for, uh, it, it all ends up, uh, like within the sovereignty issues.
12:40And the results are, uh, as, as, as, as, as, as wars and are getting worse as, as we're seeing
12:46every day.
12:47So, that, that is the big problem here.
12:49Uh, this doesn't mean, however, that the United States could be, uh, and could act loosely and probably after the,
12:59uh, and what we are advising here, like the post-Trump era.
13:03Uh, uh, that doesn't mean that the United States is not, um, it's going to come just clean with all
13:10this.
13:10But the fact that we are living right now within the, the same judges that are being the ones that
13:17are, uh, violently, uh, not abiding the law, that in, in a way turns up as, as, as we're seeing
13:25as impunity.
13:26Even if those are big breaches of international law.
13:32Also, Yvonne, as I mentioned before, here with me is our analyst, Adrienne Pine.
13:38She has been going through every details as well on, on the situation.
13:43And also she wants to take part of our, on our conversation.
13:47And she has a question for you.
13:50Hi, Yvonne.
13:51Thank you so much for joining us.
13:53Um, I, my question had to do, we've been talking about immigration and the way that Trump frames, uh, immigration
14:00is that, uh, either, you know, it's people who are coming to steal American jobs or it's people who are
14:08coming here to, to rape, uh, white women or, um, or in the case of, of Venezuelans last year claiming
14:17that they were an invading army, um, and coming from Tren de Aragua.
14:22And, um, and, um, and, um, and, and all of this, of course, ties back to the foreign policy that
14:28the United States has against other countries.
14:32And, um, and, uh, and, uh, sorry, I'm making this a very long question.
14:38But, um, what I'm getting at is, you know, we get these claims that people are coming here for selfish
14:43and violent reasons when, in fact, many people coming, at least from Latin America, are coming to the United States
14:50because they have suffered violence as a result of U.S. foreign policy.
14:54Um, so my question to you is if you can, um, talk about some of the ways in which the
15:01Trump administration has violated international law in, uh, Latin America and how that might be impacting, uh, people's ability to
15:11live in their own countries.
15:16Well, I think this is such a big question and such big issues, um, um, implied here because one of
15:26the things is that, uh, I think Trump's policies
15:28and Trump's foreign policy is aimed at violating one of the main principles of international law, and that is the
15:35non, uh, the principle of non-intervention.
15:38Um, when we talk about non-intervention, we're talking about not just military intervention, as we know, but other kinds
15:46of intervention that can or could, uh, um, impact and change, uh, the way the, the sovereign states are, are
15:55trying to, to guide their, themselves.
15:57So, um, when we, when we see this, um, very strong intervention, this, this, um, re, re, uh, reconfiguration of
16:10the, the hemisphere and how, uh, this, uh, Trump doctrine regarding, for example, Latin America and how it plans to
16:22regain the complete, um, dominance of, of the hemisphere.
16:26Regarding his, his, its fight with China and these other emerging powers, uh, all of this, um, foreign policies regarding,
16:38and I'm talking about economic, military policies, uh, in a, in a very, uh, and security policies in a very
16:45strong, uh, way.
16:46I also challenge the main principles of international law, one of them being the non-intervention, the other ones, for
16:55example, the use of force, because, uh, what, uh, the United States has been doing, uh, for example, what it
17:02did in Venezuela, and, and, and it seems like it's kind of forgotten, but it, United States used the force
17:10against, uh, a country that was not attacking the United States, uh,
17:15uh, took action against, uh, uh, took action against, uh, a president that was in power, and that is another,
17:20uh, international law violation, and, uh, also, um, took, took his, uh, it, the, the United States domestic law
17:32as, uh, as a condition and as a justification for the acts, uh, uh, trying to apply a universal jurisdiction
17:40when there were technical bases that didn't support it, and that's just an example, uh, the other fact, and that
17:47is a very worrying one, is what we're seeing
17:49in, uh, in regard to what Latin America has been reconfiguring and how close it is getting to the far
17:57right.
17:58In this sense, we know that, for example, this Escudo de las Americas and these other measures, uh, try to
18:06reconfigure the security and how the United States wants to apply security issues and how it wants to handle security
18:16within the hemisphere,
18:17but we know that the operations and the policies have been already been proved in the region with no results
18:27at all, such as Plan Colombia, for example, or the results for Plan Condor back, uh, in, in the 20th
18:35century.
18:35So, that means that, uh, in the end, all the policies are, as you were saying, and I completely agree,
18:44uh, become very, uh, very harsh and very, very restricted, uh, of, uh, on, on the people.
18:54I mean, in the end, it's the population and the most vulnerable who suffer all these kind of policies and
19:01are the ones, for example, if we think about how, uh, there is a plan to use, uh, attack, uh,
19:08drones and probable attacks, uh, on, uh, some, uh, targets within Ecuador and within Colombia, for example,
19:17because it's an agreement that was discussed like two weeks ago, that means that in the end, what we're going
19:23to be seeing is more for displacement, uh, in the population that would even try to move within the hemisphere
19:31or try to, to, to, to, to fly and to flee to the United States or to other, to other
19:38countries that will end up criminalizing them because of the, the violence that, that they are suffering back home.
19:45So, yes, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a very vicious circle because in the end, the United States
19:53is provoking, uh, all of this violence and it's in a way provoking all of this push causes that provoke
20:03migration and then the migrants become completely, um, penalized in the countries, uh, where they are looking.
20:13I mean, I mean, where they are going to, so it's a vicious circle over here.
20:18Yes.
20:19Completely.
20:21Yvonne, thank you very much for your analysis and also for joining us today in this, in, in, in, in
20:27this crucial midterm elections that are going to have an impact as well, not just in US, US people, but
20:32also the rest of the world.
20:34Thank you very much.
20:36Thank you for the invitation.
20:37Good night.
20:38Good night.