Latine Immigrant Representation Drops to 25% Across Scripted TV: Industry ‘Cannot Rely on a Few Programs to Represent the Whole’

'Mo,' 'Deli Boys' and 'Bob Hearts Abishola' hailed as the standard for representation and nuanced storytelling

By Matt Minton

Matt Minton

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Representation for Latine immigrants on TV has hit a new low, according to a report from Define American, conducted in partnership with USC’s Norman Lear Center.

The “Change the Narrative, Change the World” report assessed 201 immigrant characters across 80 episodes of 62 scripted series, all of which aired between July 2023 and June 2025. Latine people made up 23% of all immigrant characters, down drastically from the 50% found in 2020. Meanwhile, Latine immigrants make up 44% of all immigrants living in the U.S. “FBI” and “FBI: Most Wanted made up a large portion of Latine immigrant characters in the sample; without the franchise, the report notes, representation falls to just 17%.

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