East Tennessee's immigrant community turns to Facebook for news, entertainment and ICE sightings

KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Editor's Note: Portions of the interview used below have been translated from Spanish to English by 10News staff.

Thousands of immigrants in East Tennessee are turning to a Facebook page for translated news and real-time updates on immigration enforcement.

"El Chisme Today" shares Spanish translations of news articles and press releases. They also post first-hand accounts of immigration raids, and ICE sightings. “Chisme” translates to talk or gossip. The page, which launched in the summer of 2023, has grown to 43,000 followers.

Delia Flores and her partner, Orvin Lopez, run the page. They say traffic has surged in the last year, with more people seeking help and updates about enforcement activity.

Flores said they noticed rising fear in the community around the time President Donald Trump took office.

“With everything going on in immigration, the people are attentive to what we say on the page,” Flores said.

Lopez described the mood in the community as tense, and a sense of panic has shifted the focus of the page.

“They are in a state of panic right now,” Lopez said. “Always on the lookout. But since this new administration is happening, even myself, I started seeing the shift."

Mustafa Oz, a professor at the University of Tennessee, said pages like El Chisme Today can function as a virtual town square for immigrant communities seeking information.

“What we see here in terms of immigration, there is lots of uncertainty, right?," Oz said. "And people need to reduce that uncertainty to get more information from people like themselves."

He said research shows some marginalized communities may place greater trust in community-run social media pages than in mainstream outlets. But he cautioned that there are risks.

“There is a risk of misinformation and there's also a risk of amplifying fear among those communities,” Oz said. "Speed often competes with verification. It's hard to verify, so they rely on these places to reduce uncertainty, but also there is a risk of misinformation."

Lopez and Florez acknowledged the challenge of verifying tips quickly, and shared their philosophy.

“It's better to report it if it's real or not," Lopez said. "And if it is true, at least we did something to inform people."

They said many immigrants reach out to them during moments of crisis.

“We're putting all these problems in our shoulders to try to help the community," Lopez said.

Many, they said, are worried to go to school, work or even the store.

“To find us in a spot where we feel scared to even go to the hospital, I just think it's unfair,” Flores said.

Despite the challenges of verifying information or translating news, the couple hopes the page can spotlight their community and provide information to those who feel left in the dark.