via Huffington Post

Ever wonder why so many people in the United States fear immigrants?

As Congress debates an ambitious bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, Cuéntame takes a stab at answering that question in a new video titled “Deport Hate.”

Featuring interviews with prominent Latino voices in media like La Opinión journalist Pilar Marrero, O.C. Weekly Editor Gustavo Arellano and Latino Rebels founder Julio Ricardo Varela, the video takes a look at how immigrants, particularly the undocumented, wind up stigmatized in the media.

“The last serious effort for immigration reform, which happened 2006-2007, was stopped by a minority – these very extremist, nativist groups,” Marrero says.

That minority drums up fear of immigrants by painting them as invaders who will destroy the American way of life, the video argues.

Support for immigration reform with a path to citizenship stands at an all-time high, according to the Christian Science Monitor. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released this month found that nearly 63 percent of Americans back a pathway to citizenship -- a major increase from 2007, when only 49 percent supported the measure.

But for reform to pass, many Americans will have to come to terms with their suspicion of immigrants -- fears that were rekindled by the Boston bombings, which authorities suspect were committed by two brothers who immigrated to the United States from Kyrgyzstan.