#1: Immigrants are framed as criminals and peons.
The images that are constantly shown in the media affect how we as an American society decide to judge an issue. Through extensive research, we started to notice patterns and common reoccurrences of how Latino immigrants are portrayed in the media. First, we will focus on how we commonly see immigrants framed as criminals and peons.
Immigration, as controversial as it is, seems to only be brought up when there is a newsworthy story relating to drugs or gang violence.
“According to Lou Dobbs, “a third of the prison population in this country is estimated to be illegal aliens,” and Glenn Beck regularly warns of “an illegal alien crime wave.” Congressman Tom Tancredo insists, “The face of illegal immigration on our borders is one of murder, one of drug smuggling, one of vandalism for all the communities along the border, and one of infiltration of people coming into this country for purposes to do us great harm.” Michelle Malkin adds an even more terrifying note, calling our borders “open channels not only for illegal aliens and drug smugglers, but terrorists, too.” Even as far back as 2000, the highly regarded General Social Survey found that 73 percent of Americans believed that immigration caused higher crime rates, a level of concern considerably greater than fears about job losses or social unity.” (http://www.amconmag.com/article/2010/mar/01/00022/)
What we concluded from our research was that the portrayal of immigrants as criminals in the media is more “truthiness” than actual truth. The majority of statistics showed that the overall number of male Latino incarcerations, were extremely close with white men of the same ages.
Along with looking at Latino immigrants as criminals, we tend to see them portrayed in the media as “beneath us” or “lower-class”. Many live in poverty when they come to America. They work for small wages and work at many of the jobs most American citizens won’t take. They are discriminated against simply by where they came from. Though there are a great number living here illegally, not all immigrants are here against the law. Many work hard to gain citizenship in our country for themselves and their families.
The derogatory terms for immigrants play a huge part in why we hold such views against them. In the media, they are referred to as “aliens” and “illegals”. The constant repetition of terms such as these, train society to believe that they are acceptable. The media theory cultivation comes into play, as we take these media portrayals and let them shape our view on immigration. The terms we should be using are “undocumented immigrants” and “undocumented workers”.
Though many groups have brought to attention the terms we should use, society continues to use the same ones. When looking at examples in the media, the abuse of the derogatory terms was surprising. News broadcasts refer to people of Latino heritage as “illegal aliens” and “illegal immigrants” constantly.
In the recent Arizona Bill, where harsh action was taken against undocumented workers, these names were repeated time and time again.
Just in the first 2 pages, the word “alien” is used to describe undocumented workers a total of 5 times.
“FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES,CONVICTED OF A VIOLATION OF STATE OR LOCAL LAW, ON DISCHARGE FROM IMPRISONMENT OR ASSESSMENT OF ANY FINE THAT IS IMPOSED, THE ALIEN SHALL BE TRANSFERRED IMMEDIATELY TO THE CUSTODY OF THE UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT OR THE UNITED STATES CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY MAY SECURELY TRANSPORT AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND WHO IS IN THE AGENCY'S CUSTODY TO A FEDERAL FACILITY IN THIS STATE OR TO ANY OTHER POINT OF TRANSFER INTO FEDERAL CUSTODY THAT IS OUTSIDE THE JURISDICTION OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.
IF THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN, DETERMINING WHETHER THE PERSON IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL REGISTRATION LAWS PRESCRIBED BY TITLE II, CHAPTER 7 OF THE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT.
Sec. 3. Title 13, chapter 15, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 13-1509, to read: 13-1509. Trespassing by illegal aliens; assessment; exception; classification .”
The use of these derogatory terms adds to the ideological beliefs that many American citizens hold today. We have accepted these into our vocabulary as “normal” and constantly use them when referring to Latino Immigrants. This in turn adds to the framing of immigrants as criminals and peons.
