The Latino Cyber-Moral Panic Process in the United States

Flores-Yeffal, Nadia Y.; Vidales, Guadalupe; Plemons, April

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2011.562222

Cited by 48 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…As a result, even though the actual inflow of undocumented migrants had stabilized by the late 1970s and was no longer rising, the Latino Threat Narrative kept gaining traction to generate a rising moral panic about illegal aliens that produced a self-perpetuating increase in resources dedicated to border enforcement (Flores-Yeffal, Vidales, and Plemons 2011; Massey and Pren 2012a). Over time, as more Border Patrol Officers were hired and given more equipment and materiel, they apprehended more migrants.…”

Section: Illegal Migration the Latino Threat And The Bordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Border Enforcement Backfired

Massey

Durand

Pren

2016

American Journal of Sociology

282

232

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In this article we undertake a systematic analysis of why border enforcement backfired as a strategy of immigration control in the United States. We argue theoretically that border enforcement emerged as a policy response to a moral panic about the perceived threat of Latino immigration to the United States propounded by self-interested bureaucrats, politicians, and pundits who sought to mobilize political and material resources for their own benefit. The end result was a self-perpetuating cycle of rising enforcement and increased apprehensions that resulted in the militarization of the border in a way that was disconnected from the actual size of the undocumented flow. Using an instrumental variable approach, we show how border militarization affected the behavior of unauthorized migrants and border outcomes to transform undocumented Mexican migration from a circular flow of male workers going to three states into an eleven-million person population of settled families living in 50 states.

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Section: Illegal Migration the Latino Threat And The Bordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Border Enforcement Backfired

Massey

Durand

Pren

2016

American Journal of Sociology

282

232

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“…This infectious process is partly promulgated by immigration restrictionist organizations, such as the Federation of American Immigration Reform, the Center for Immigration Studies, and NumbersUSA, which help disperse antiimmigrant rhetoric in online spaces (Flores-Yeffal et al, 2011). While no longer an active organization, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens argued that undocumented mothers and their children waste taxpayer money and steal resources from legitimate American children (Romero, 2011).…”

Section: The Digital Birth Of "Anchor Babies"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While no longer an active organization, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens argued that undocumented mothers and their children waste taxpayer money and steal resources from legitimate American children (Romero, 2011). Indeed, anti-immigrant groups and individuals have been able to perpetuate anti-immigrant discourses in various online spaces (Bloch, 2014;Flores-Yeffal et al, 2011;Sohoni, 2006). Importantly, however, while anti-immigrant or hate group organizations may be responsible for promulgating anti-immigrant rhetoric, it is critical to address how a more generalist audience would respond to questions of non-citizen reproduction.…”

Section: The Digital Birth Of "Anchor Babies"mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chapter 6 Chinese Maternity Tourists and Their “Anchor Babies”? Disdain and Racialized Conditional Acceptance of Non-Citizen Reproduction

Rodriguez¹

2018

Marginalized Mothers, Mothering From the Margins

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The Internet is a site of particularly potent discourses demonizing undocumented immigrants (Bloch, 2014;Flores-Yeffal, Vidales, & Plemons, 2011;Sohoni, 2006). Anti-immigrant discourses have long constructed Latina immigrant mothers as bearing "anchor babies" and burdens to the state. Representing a distinct case of non-citizen reproduction, online news sources began reporting on Chinese maternity tourism in 2011. This form of maternity tourism allegedly involves wealthy tourists visiting the United States to give birth to their children on US soil. In this chapter, I analyze online comments in response to Chinese maternity tourism. I ask, how do online commenters make sense of Chinese maternity tourism? I find that online commenters overwhelmingly demonize Chinese maternity tourism by including this practice into broader debates about "anchor babies" and the reforming of birthright citizenship. Some commenters also use race-specific tropes and malleable claims about class to construct the children of Chinese maternity tourists as a paradoxical asset or threat to the country, often comparing them to the children of undocumented Latina mothers. When commenters employ Asian-specific stereotypes,

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“…At best they were distortions designed to cultivate fear among native born white Americans for self-interested purposes of boosting ratings, selling air-time, and hawking books. As a result, even though the actual flow of undocumented migrants had stabilized by the late 1970s and was no longer rising (Massey and Pren 2012b), the Latino Threat Narrative kept gaining traction to generate a rising moral panic about illegal aliens that produced a self-perpetuating increase in resources dedicated to border enforcement (Flores-Yeffal, Vidales, and Plemons 2011). Over time, as more Border Patrol Officers were hired and given more equipment and resources, they naturally apprehended more migrants and the rising number of border apprehensions was then taken as self-evident proof of the ongoing "alien invasion," justifying agency requests for still more enforcement resources and ultimately yielding a self-feeding cycle of enforcement, apprehensions, more enforcement, more apprehensions, and still more enforcement.…”

Section: The Missing Element and Mexico-us Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Missing Element in Migration Theories

Massey

2015

Migrat. Lett.

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From the mid-1950s through the mid1980s, migration between Mexico and the United States constituted a stable system whose contours were shaped by social and economic conditions well-theorized by prevailing models of migration. It evolved as a mostly circular movement of male workers going to a handful of U.S. states in response to changing conditions of labor supply and demand north and south of the border, relative wages prevailing in each nation, market failures and structural economic changes in Mexico, and the expansion of migrant networks following processes specified by neoclassical economics, segmented labor market theory, the new economics of labor migration, social capital theory, world systems theory, and theoretical models of state behavior. After 1986, however, the migration system was radically transformed, with the net rate of migration increasing sharply as movement shifted from a circular flow of male workers going a limited set of destinations to a nationwide population of settled families. This transformation stemmed from a dynamic process that occurred in the public arena to bring about an unprecedented militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, and not because of shifts in social, economic, or political factors specified in prevailing theories. In this paper I draw on earlier work to describe that dynamic process and demonstrate its consequences, underscoring the need for greater theoretical attention to the self-interested actions of politicians, pundits, and bureaucrats who benefit from the social construction and political manufacture of immigration crises when none really exist.

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The Latino Cyber-Moral Panic Process in the United States

Cited by 48 publications

References 32 publications

Why Border Enforcement Backfired

Why Border Enforcement Backfired

Chapter 6 Chinese Maternity Tourists and Their “Anchor Babies”? Disdain and Racialized Conditional Acceptance of Non-Citizen Reproduction

A Missing Element in Migration Theories

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