Controlling images of immigrants in the mainstream and Black press: The discursive power of the “illegal Latino”

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate controlling images of Latinx immigrants in the US press. Our paper expands theory within this literature in two new directions. First, we look at the controlling image of the "illegal" as well as the conventional controlling images of the immigrant described in the literature. Second, we investigate whether controlling images of Latinx immigrants remain prevalent outside of newspapers aimed at a predominantly White audience by comparing controlling images of immigrants in Atlanta's mainstream press to the city's Black press. We find that controlling images of immigrants are prevalent in the mainstream press but seldom appear in the Black news media. We also find that the "illegal" represents the predominant controlling image of immigrants in both. Few controlling images are explicitly gendered. We argue that the lack of gendering in the controlling images of immigrants may serve to dehumanize all immigrants, complicating and expanding extant research.

“It could be 3 million, it could be 30 million”: Quantitative misperceptions about undocumented immigration and immigration attitudes in the Trump era

“…However, nearly two-thirds of US respondents in 2015 got this wrong, typically by greatly overestimating the proportion of immigrants that are undocumented (Pew Research Center 2015a). 1 Surveys indicate that the most common word that US respondents first associate with immigrants is "illegal" (Pew Research Center 2015a), a word steeped in decades of US history and policymaking (e.g., Molina 2014;Ngai 2004) and an increasingly salient and meaningful social category in contemporary American life (e.g., Deckard et al 2020;Dreby 2015;Gonzales 2011;Menjívar and Abrego 2012).…”

“…Thus, there is overlap between people of Mexican (and Central American) ancestry and those who are undocumented or who are liminally legal (e.g., Menjívar and Abrego 2012;Sáenz and Morales 2015). Mainstream news outlets specifically associate Mexicans and Central Americans (immigrants or not) with illegality (Haynes et al 2016;Deckard et al 2020). 4 Federal-and state-level immigration policies and priorities disproportionately affect Mexican and Central American families and communities.…”

“…Studies confirm that Trump's rhetoric about immigration is influential. Mainstream news outlets amplified Trump's explicit connections of immigration and crime through their coverage of his speeches (Deckard et al 2020). For instance, a study found that seven national newspapers doubled the number of news articles they published that linked immigration and crime in the weeks after his June 2015 speech, compared to before his speech (Flores 2018).…”

“…Nearly twothirds of the racially diverse sample in 2015 did not provide the correct response about the proportion of immigrants that are undocumented, and overestimation was the most common incorrect response (Pew Research Center 2015a). This high level of misinformation in spring 2015 pre-dates the ramping up of Trump's frequent, erroneous remarks about unauthorized immigrants (Sherman 2015;Timm 2016) and the extensive mainstream media coverage that his negative immigration rhetoric received after he announced his candidacy in June 2015 (Deckard et al 2020;Flores 2018;Schuchs Carr et al 2020).…”

A Virus Without Papers: Understanding COVID-19 and the Impact on Immigrant Communities

“…The term "immigrant" is complicated and often misunderstood. Media narratives play a significant role in creating confusion and criminalizing immigrants (Delia Deckard et al 2020). In recruiting participants for our study, many jumped to the conclusion that we were focusing on undocumented immigrants.…”