The company that developed the lyrics for a ringtone about deportation apologized Thursday after Cingular Wireless LLC pulled it for being offensive.
Barrio Mobile said the ringtone "La Migra" — a slang term for Border Patrol agent — was satire and shouldn't be taken seriously.
Mexican-American comic Paul Saucido wrote the ringtone that features a male voice, acting as a Border Patrol agent with a Southern drawl, saying, "I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o."
"His position is that people of Hispanic background need to maintain a sense of humor about the immigration situation," said Jonathan Dworkin, a vice president of Cellfish Media, which distributed the ringtone.
Cingular pulled the ringtone from its Web site Tuesday.
Barrio Mobile and Cellfish Media are part of Lagardere, a French media company.