As a correspondent for Noticias Telemundo in Washington, DC, Javier Vega knows the challenges of covering immigration enforcement in the Trump administration. And he offered a one-word descriptor in a discussion with Widening the Pipeline fellows: “fear.”

“It’s affecting the way… people decide to talk to the media in general,” Vega said, referring to recent encounters with interview subjects for his monthly inflation reports. “Before, I used to go just to a supermarket and talk to people. Now, I go with a camera to a supermarket and people start running. They don’t want to be recorded. People don’t want to be exposed. So, that not only affects immigration stories, it affects every story.”

Vega spent many years honing his journalism skills in his home country Mexico before arriving in DC in 2018. He’s a member of four Emmy award-winning teams for “Outstanding Coverage for a Breaking News Story in Spanish” and “Outstanding Newscast or News Magazine in Spanish.”

Throughout his two-decade career, Vega’s experience has helped him navigate the complexities of immigration coverage during this volatile period. But his key message for Widening fellows centered around another single word: “clarity.” Vega believes the 60 million Hispanics living in America today deserve to have a firm grasp on what’s happening and what their rights are, and journalists can help provide it.

“Their obligation is not to be legal experts, but you have to understand how legal processes work. And I think one of the best services we can do to our communities is to actually explain with clarity issues that are complex, like legal issues. So yes, we live in times of confusion. I insist sometimes deliberate confusion, but the best antidote for that confusion is clarity. So make that clarity your mission and you’ll be doing a great service to society.”

You can watch the full session with Javier Vega below, and access the full transcript here.