Latine Immigrant TV Representation Drops to 23%: Report
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- Define American and USC's Norman Lear Center released the "Change the Narrative, Change the World" report, finding Latine immigrants represented just 23% of immigrant characters on scripted TV, down from 50% in 2020, even though they make up 44% of U.S. immigrants.
- The report assessed 201 immigrant characters across 80 episodes of 62 scripted series airing between July 2023 and June 2025, and found that one in four immigrant characters were portrayed as a criminal, drug addict, or human trafficker.
- "FBI" and "FBI: Most Wanted" accounted for a large share of Latine immigrant characters in the sample; without that franchise, Latine representation falls to just 17%, according to the report.
- Netflix's "Mo" led all shows studied with 13 immigrant characters and two children of immigrants, with 62% of viewers reporting increased understanding of immigrant challenges after watching.
- "Bob Hearts Abishola" drove Black immigrant representation to a steady 17%, but the CBS sitcom ended in 2024 after its fifth season, and the report warns those numbers could now fall.
- Define American founder Jose Antonio Vargas called on Hollywood to move "beyond meeting a quota" and "embrace its responsibility to accurately reflect the complexity of the American people."
Why it matters: Hollywood's pipeline problem is now quantifiable: a community that constitutes 44% of U.S. immigrants is getting 23%—and as low as 17% without one show—of screen representation, with one in four immigrant characters slotted into criminal roles. With "Bob Hearts Abishola" ended, the report warns that already-thin representation in multiple communities could erode further without industry-wide infrastructure.
