Things That Matter

No, Starbucks Is Not Doing A “Dreamers Day” Promotion In Stores, It’s A Fake Ad Targeting Undocumented Immigrants

By August 7, 2017 at 4:03 pm
@ShortTermEnthus / Twitter / Marco Paköeningrat / Flickr

You may have seen flyers promoting “Starbucks Dreamer Day” filling your social media feeds. According to the flyers circulating online, Starbucks is offering a 40 percent discount on purchases from the coffee company for undocumented immigrants. Let’s be clear. They are false and, according to Salon, were created by right-wing trolls.

A fake Starbucks advertisement targeting undocumented immigrants is spreading around social media.

The offer first started to show up on August 2, promising “undocumented Americans” a discount when they used the promo code “UNAFRAID.”

The false ads, using the hashtag #BorderFreeCoffee, appear to have originated from a 4Chan thread titled “Politically Incorrect.”

The posters, created in both English and Spanish, appear to have been created by people hoping to get undocumented individuals into Starbucks stores and have them detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One user expressly suggested that people spread the posters widely to lure in large numbers of undocumented individuals so ICE could detain as many as possible in a series of raids. The thread is filled with derogatory terms for Jews, Latinos, African-Americans and the LGBTQ community.

Based on the thread, the poster went through several revisions before landing on one they thought would fool the public.

CREDIT: 4Chan

“How about we meme ‘Undocumented Immigrant Day’ at Starbucks into existence? Announce free coffee for all illegals on a certain date,” one user wrote. “August 11? 11 looks like II (for Illegal Immigrant). I’m open to suggestions there. Name a liberal place for all illegals to go at once and demand free stuff. Thoughts?”

John Kelly, Starbucks senior vice president of global communications, told The Associated Press the promotion is “One hundred percent fake.”

CREDIT: Credit: starbucks.com

Starbucks has also taken to social media to decry the fake promotion. They are replying to individual users to let them know the campaign is not real.

CREDIT: @Starbucks / Twitter

That’s just seven of the responses Starbucks has put out to people about the advertisement.

And other people are helping Starbucks spread the word about this fake ad.

(H/T: The Washington Post)


READ: Internet Trolls Started Promoting Violence Against Women After This Woman Was Violently Attacked By Men

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Trump Uses Coronavirus Pandemic To Announce He’s Suspending All Immigration To The U.S. And Here’s What You Need To Know

Things That Matter

Trump Uses Coronavirus Pandemic To Announce He’s Suspending All Immigration To The U.S. And Here’s What You Need To Know

By April 21, 2020 at 10:58 am
BY  | April 21, 2020 AT 10:58 am
Win McNamee / Getty

Donald Trump ran on a campaign pledge to severely limit the rights of migrants and refugees attempting to reach the United States. In office, he wasted no time restricting authorized and unauthorized immigration, with travel bans for citizens of a number of Muslim-majority nations, cutting the numbers of refugees the U.S. accepts, and pushing ahead with plans to build a wall on the southern border.

Now amid a global health pandemic, the president is looking to scapegoat migrant and refugee communities by banning all applications for immigration to the U.S. The move is largely seen as symbolic, however, since the U.S. has already largely stopped processing immigration applications due to reduced capacity.

The White House on Monday announced that President Trump would be signing an executive order to temporarily ban all immigration to the U.S.

President Trump tweeted on Monday that he will pass an executive order to suspend immigration to the United States, claiming that he is seeking to protect jobs in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Democrats were quick to criticize it as a “dumb move” and pointed to testing as a safe way to reopen the economy. Not to mention that the U.S. is already home to the largest number of cases around the globe.

Trump tweeted: “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”

Obviously, since he made the major announcement over Twitter, there is very little clarity over what immigration programs might be impacted. And the White House still hasn’t offered any guidance on what Trump meant by the tweet.

Trump has taken credit for his restrictions on travel to the U.S. from China and hard-hit European countries, arguing it contributed to slowing the spread of the virus in the U.S. But he has yet to extend those restrictions to other nations now experiencing virus outbreaks.

Although the announcement has left many in shock, the U.S. was already severely limiting immigration due to the pandemic.

Already, much of the immigration flow into the country has been paused during the coronavirus pandemic, as the government has temporarily stopped processing all non-worker visas. And, the executive order in its current form will exempt seasonal foreign farm worker visas, one of the largest sources of immigration at the moment.

The administration has already restricted foreign visitors from China, Europe, Canada and Mexico, and has paused processing for immigrants trying to come into the U.S. on non-worker visas because of office closures.

But given the usual chaotic roll out of Trump Administration directives, we still don’t know how long this suspension will last nor what will happen with the applicants already being processed.

Thomas Homan, Trump’s former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Reuters: “It’s really not about immigration. It’s about the pandemic and keeping our country safer while protecting opportunities for unemployed Americans.”

And it seems the fact that the U.S. already has the largest number of cases on Earth is completely lost on the president.

As of early April, the United States is now home to the largest number of confirmed Covid-19 infections on the planet. There are more than 800,000 cases confirmed by testing and more than 44,000 deaths associated with the virus. In fact, the U.S. now makes up for nearly a third of all Covid-19 infections and a quarter of all deaths.

If Trump wants to make an impact and help flatten the curve in the United States, he should stop promoting the anti-lockdown protests instead of scapegoating immigrant and refugee communities.

Democrats and migrant right’s groups quickly slammed the president’s proposal as xenophobic and counter-productive.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, also a former 2020 presidential candidate, responded to Trump’s tweet as well, saying the move was “shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda.”

“Trump failed to take this crisis seriously from day 1,” she wrote. “His abandonment of his role as president has cost lives. And now, he’s shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda. Enough, Mr. President. The American people are fed up.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, a Democrat who ran for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, said in response, “We don’t need to protect America from immigrants. We need to protect her from you.” Now that’s a pretty legit clapback.

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Trump AdministrationTravel BanCoronavirusimmigration

Reggaeton And K-Pop Battle It Out With J Balvin Leading The Charge In ‘Trolls World Tour’

Entertainment

Reggaeton And K-Pop Battle It Out With J Balvin Leading The Charge In ‘Trolls World Tour’

By April 13, 2020 at 3:20 pm
BY  | April 13, 2020 AT 3:20 pm
J Balvin | Trolls / Instagram

“Trolls World Tour” is now streaming so everyone who can’t go to the movie theaters can see the highly anticipated animated film. The movie is giving all kinds of musical genres love showing the wide world of music. Don’t worry. Reggaeton finds its way into the movie and J Balvin is carrying the torch.

J Balvin is giving reggaeton and Latino music some serious representation in “Trolls World Tour.”

“I am a troll and represented reggaeton 🌈🌈🌈 for the culture. #colores @trolls the movie !! LATINO GANG,” J Balvin wrote on his Instagram caption.

Honestly, this kind of representation for children is something that we all need to celebrate. J Balvin’s character Tresillo is fighting for reggaeton and it’s admirable. Not only are we hearing some Spanish in the movie, Tresillo corrected the mispronunciation of his name and that is something that we can all relate to.

Tresillo is the kind of character so many people are able to relate to.

Who would want to live in a world without reggaeton? That kind of world just doesn’t seem like the kind of world worth living in. Imagine a world without Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, or Bad Bunny. What a sad world that would be.

The way he corrects the pronunciation of his name is everything.

How many times have you had to correct the way someone mispronounced your name? Bonus points if the person acted offended or thought you were being too dramatic. A name is something that is so important to a person. No name is too hard that people can’t pronounce it. After all, people can pronounce Zach Galifianakis so why should they struggle with pronouncing any of our names?

Truly, Tresillo might be the kind of visual distraction so many of us need to make it through this time.

Thank you for giving us some representation even in all of this. It is really so small but in a world like this, it can really make the difference. Children stuck at home can now see themselves represented in the Trolls universe.

This troll even moves with the culture.

Get it, J Balvin. Thank you for always doing it for the culture and doing it right. You can watch “Trolls World Tour” now.

READ: Here’s Why You Should Be Familiar With Mafalda, One Of The Best Latino Cartoons Of All Time

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CartoonsJ BalvinMusicReggaetónTrolls