Adrian chats with Carlos Eduardo Espina, likely the most followed Latino content creator on social media. Beyond his millions of followers, Carlos is tapped into and respected by the immigrant and Latino community which is under siege right now. They cover LA protests of ICE, Latino Trump supporters and more.
Share from 0:00
0:00
/
0:00
Transcript
Adrian Carrasquillo with Carlos Eduardo Espina
A recording from Adrian Carrasquillo's live video
Huddled Masses
Audio
A newsletter by Adrian Carrasquillo chronicling immigration in America.
A newsletter by Adrian Carrasquillo chronicling immigration in America.Authors
Carlos Eduardo Espina
Writes Mi Gente News Subscribe
Adrian Carrasquillo
And there are undocumented people who become victims of real violent criminals. These people are afraid to go to the police. Let the police do their job and get the real criminals (mostly Americans) off the street. People who work and cause no problems are not criminals.
Thumbs up!
Great discussion and so inspiring to hear from this young man doing the real work. Adrian, I would love to hear from people with informed opinions on Democratic immigration policy — is there any way to get to a popular policy for pathway to green card, like a “community approval” system as in Switzerland?
This video is great. I have been wondering how Spanish speakers get their news and how so many of them voted for Trump. I live in a predominantly hispanic community. Recently, I had an opportunity to speak with my neighbor - partly in English and partly in Spanish. She was speaking about the vandalism in LA. She spoke about all the criminals. I explained to her that, yes, those criminals need to be apprehended and prosecuted, but do they have to be deported to El Salvador? What is wrong with our prisons? I also said that the majority of immigrants come here to make a better life for themselves and their families, just like she and her husband did. The conversation told me that information was coming to her from somewhere that was raising her level of concern far beyond what seems rational. I look forward to following Carlos Eduardo Espina.
Welcome to Substack, Carlos. And thank you, Adrian. Your contributions to The Bulwark are key to understanding so much of the happenings today. Please take care of yourselves.
Carlos, thank you so much for your work. And Adrian, thanks for bringing Carlos to this audience. Great convo. I'm starting to get vibes from 1970s Chicano activism when I was coming of age. Good things happened then. May it be so for us now as well.
I love this! Thank you. It is hell in LA right now. I’ve been out on the streets and it is an emotional roller coaster. Protests can pop up in an hour. The entire nation needs to know how bad it really is.
Carlos, you can talk about how the Democrats are terrible at getting their message out. In the Atlantic, there's an article out about how many octarians in Congress. Three Democrats died this year while in office.
Our current reality violates community guidelines. (Why hasn't it been removed, dammit?)
I think the more important thing for democrats to be able to share their plans about immigration is to have a plan.
Adrian, I haven’t watched this yet, but my H sent me the following Dem ad against the ICE sweeps that I thought you should see, so I’m posting it here. The Democrats need to be putting out stuff like this everywhere. Flood the zone!
“Republicans Kidnap Latina Girlfriend” ad
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-kidnap-latina-girlfriend-in-new-democratic-ad/ar-AA1H35av?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=451084f7f928481c8377ce1e42b019fa&ei=289
Great conversation. Thank you Adrian for having him on live. I subscribed to Carlos' substack. I am on the upper side of age, a native Angeleno. Many of my childhood friends were latino and all through my years of school (Perris, CA, boonies, LOL, of Riverside County ( mostly farming area) I NEVER thought they were different from me. It has been sickening to see the Republicans use the Hispanic community for their gains.
I have watched the Republican (now MAGA) party continue to use the Hispanic community for decades as a wedge issue. I want to remind everyone that the Biden administration curated a bi-partisian immigration bill (Raul Grijalva CD07, Tucson was not happy with it; he was on the Progressive side) which Trump/MAGA killed just so they could do what they are doing right now with the community.
I am pleased to hear Carlos address the dis-information campaign that went on for the 2024 election. Biden's economy was the envy of the world! and that did not seem to translate to voters. I believe many fell into that trap as there was very little truth that was talked about from Trump. I am grateful you all will work on that!
Now, are Dems perfect? No - But we are the moral, righteous party right now, and we have to get stronger in our support and protection of the Latino community. Thank you for letting me comment.
So now I'm cut off.
be gentle... these are young people... and all our cultures and the world's ecosystems are changing... rapidly... i listened at 1.5x and had no problem following the conversation...
I believe that recent generations have been treated too gentley for too long. Respect is earned not owed.
you're absolutely right... let's give the young sometime... they might surprise us...
You spend too much time talking about how great you are!!!
Get to it.
Great conversation. Thanks for the introduction to Carlos. Adrian, thank you for acknowledging the trauma you've experienced witnessing this horrific violence and purge of preople's family and the collective trauma among the Latino community. The impact of this grotesque policy is going to be felt for generations.
Our two parties have failed us. Independents must stand up and run for office now.
Great conversation!!!!
Thank you for platforming Carlos.
Excited to sign up for his substack!!!
Be reasonable with those who are willing to listen, but to puta ICE agents who wear a mask because they do not have a legitament badge, I ask them but one question: "Creas que tu puedes a chingarme?"
Thanks to both of you for a fascinating conversation. Sorry for the bit of cultural meta-commentary unrelated to the news, but something clicked here that I bet other “olds” might relate to:
Even though I knew the polls said that *influencer* was the #1 career aspiration of the youngest cohort in America, I hadn’t fully internalized the obvious implication—that the word *influencer* might carry more trust than the word *journalist* for that group. So much so that Carlos bristles at Adrian’s use of the word to describe him.
I’m pretty sure there’s a generational cutoff above which calling yourself—or aspiring to be—an *influencer* is mostly a punchline. To paint with broad strokes: Boomers either don’t know what it is, or think it’s a made-up excuse to avoid “real work”; Gen X sees it as real, but unserious—ill-defined and hollow; Millennials tend to treat it with impatience or irony, and some probably wonder whether they should’ve spent the past decade vlogging about skincare instead of optimizing LinkedIn profiles.
What I hadn’t appreciated was how far Gen Z’s positive associations with the word go. I’d read those poll responses as more like when high schoolers say they want to play in the NBA or be a movie star—sure, sounds nice, and congrats if you make it, but not exactly a viable career path.
But *influencer* doesn’t just point at aspiration; it also signals who they see as credible—who actually *influences* how they see the world. (You might say “duh, that’s why it’s called that”—and sure—but their relationship to advertisers is also one of being influenced, and they don’t have positive associations with *that*.)
I was a student journalist in college, wrote a regular op-ed column, took a few J-school classes, and have been journalism-adjacent most of my life. And from that vantage, I’ve spent years now—my first notes on this were from June 2015, just around the time of Trump’s golden escalator descent—noodling on a project to try to explain journalism to people whose distrust of “the MSM” runs so deep that I have to wonder whether they’re unfamiliar with the ethical and procedural guardrails that shape professional journalism, or whether they *are* familiar with those guardrails but assume journalists are corrupt regardless.
One example from your conversation: if someone at an LA protest sent both of you a video of shocking police violence, Carlos might feel urgency to get it out fast and help it break through. Adrian, I imagine, wouldn’t *lack* urgency, but wouldn’t let it override journalistic norms—he’d try to authenticate the video, gather context, reach out to LAPD for comment, and look for corroborating evidence.
That difference would make Carlos “not a journalist” by the standards of professional journalism. And that’s fine—advocacy press, activist press, guerrilla journalism (which Carlos might fall under, even if he wouldn’t use the label) all have their place.
But if people don’t understand those additional steps—or why they matter—they might reasonably see a journalist’s version of the story as bloodless and slow, while the influencer’s feels urgent, authentic, and righteous.
Still, there’s a reason we don’t consider PR or advertising to be journalism. The fact that *influencer* can encompass everything from citizen reporting to brand partnerships isn’t inherently a problem. But if a growing share of the public ends up holding journalists in contempt while holding influencers in esteem *across the board*, that poses a serious obstacle to restoring a shared factual reality—one that requires not just agreement on facts, but at least a modest consensus on which sources are more or less trustworthy. And without that, participatory politics doesn’t have much to stand on.
The Dem party really dropped the ball in regards to immigration, they have been too quiet and equinanimous. I hope the dems step up and fight for us all. Freedom and justice for all and the pursuit of happiness.
Really great! Good info on communication needs on Dems and what’s going on out there in Latino communities!! Keep it up!!!
Thank you for your discussion on skill sets and communication. Everyone has their own needs and strengths and weaknesses. We need to educate those on social media to LISTEN to the message not just respond to the shiny object delivering the news. I'm an 82 year old grandmother - a life long advocate of respect and support for human diversity & understanding that all people no matter their culture or location, have the same basic needs and goals - safety, nutrition, shelter, appropriate life-long education, medical care, family/human attachment and support, kindness and affirmation. I fight for the rights of all immigrants under our Constitution and the Rule of law to insure that my rights, those of my kids, grandkids, greatgrands and all I care for are guaranteed also. Vote blue in 2026 no matter how imperfect you believe Democrats are (like all human, lol) and continue to support each other. It's good for the soul and your health. I was blessed to come from people who modeled showing up, wisdom, integrity and kindness. I honor them in my advocacy. Bless you both for sharing your experiences, wisdom and determination to make a difference.
And thank you so much for speaking to English speakers, there are so many of us who are with you and many that reeally need to hear what you have to say.
Great discussion hope you guys both check in with each other as more stories come out of these LA county raids
You guys are beautiful and so knowledgeable and grat at what you're doing. Thanks for being such strong voices.
Greetings Carlos! I loved the episode, and I look forward to seeing more of you on Substack!
Would 60% of Latino men not ever vote for a woman? Maybe
They didn't listen to him. He said he was going to do exactly what's going down.
Enjoyed the thoughtful discussion here. This topic directly affects my family and has brought about a dark specter of fear that I've never experienced as a U.S. citizen. Carlos's positivity and independent views are invigorating, and Adrian's dogged reporting is illuminating and necessarily disturbing. I'd love for you both to consider doing more of these videos so more folks can hear these important conversations. Much love from Utah.
Old people are not good at social media? How about Donald Trump? Perhaps the most successful social media presence ever. Not good, but true.
What a good discussion. Carlos, I can understand why you have so many followers. Your different perception is good to hear. You have made me think differently, and it is a good thing. Keep speaking... we need the Latino voices. Good Job!!
47 percent of Latinos voted for trump but didn't think he would deport their parents. There is a legitimate question whether people are retarded but this is more likely an indication of how unsophisticated and careless voters are. Perhaps high prices are more important than deporting your parents. But what the evidence that Trump would or could do anything about high prices? There was plenty of evidence that he would deport your parents. It is so obvious. Maybe not. Is there a possibility of educating and training voters to be responsible?
Listening skills
Great show -- thanks Adrian! I'd love to hear more from Carlos, but I don't blame him for sticking with Spanish: the situation in Spanish social media sounds dire, as he presents it.
From the UK
Good to meet you Carlos, I'm really interested to hear your voice on behalf of the immigrant people of America.
We are watching aghast here, as the administration cracks down against hardworking families who have lived & contributed to the American community & commercial prosperity for so many years.
Trump is despised here, for his cruelty and unfairness.