Updated yet again. Somebody from SomethingAwful.com has posted the ringtone on the Internet.

Updated again. I interviewed Paul Saucido, creator of the controversial ringtone. Read about what he was thinking.

Original story: The wires were buzzing this morning with a story from the Brownsville Herald in Brownsville, TX about a ringtone on Cingular's deck called "La Migra," in which a man with a stereotypical Southern accent tells the listener to "put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o" because "this is La Migra," Spanish slang for immigration officials.

The story was full of Latino activists who were horrified, horrified at such a "racist" message. But when I saw the ringtone actually came from Barrio Mobile, a Latino-focused content company whose Web site is mostly in Spanish, features reggaeton artists, and whose other ringtones have titles like "Naughty Mami" and "Where My Latinas At," I thought there might be a little humor gap going on here. After all, I doubt actual racists would really mock gringos' idiotic attempts at turning English words into Spanish by tacking an "o" onto the end.

And yup. According to a statement by Barrio Mobile, "This ringtone, 'La Migra' was written and produced by a Mexican-American comic as a satirical statement. His position is that people of Hispanic background need to maintain a sense of humor about the immigration situation. The ringtone, which was available on one carrier only, was specifically listed in a “Got Jokes” category. It is in no way meant to be racist. We deeply regret and apologize if the ringtone was found to be offensive in any way."

This ringtone controversy seems to be a clear case of misplaced context: a mockery of immigration hysteria told by a Mexican-American comedian to the almost entirely young, Hispanic target audience of Barrio Mobile sends one message, but when it's plucked out of Cingular's deck without context by a random reporter, it sends another.

Does ethnic humor - or, for that matter, anything that could be deemed offensive to anyone - have any place in the mobile context? Or should we keep our content as healthily bland as possible, because it could be misconstrued on carrier decks that give no context and no clue? I'd love to see some comments on this.

The Brownsville Herald's follow-up story continues to prove my point. While the "national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens" is outraged, three young Mexican-Americans at the local shopping mall think it's hilarious -- and they're Barrio Mobile's core market. Meanwhile, a bunch of political blowhards on the anti-immigration side of the debate also don't get that it's a joke. George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, John Leguizamo, and Greg Garcia, where are you guys when we need you?