Ningún Ser Humano Es Ilegal: Undocumented Immigrant Discourse via Mass Media and Activists’ Response

• In Event: 40420 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15: The Politics of Immigration 2

Abstract

How does mass media impact discourse on undocumented immigrants? How do undocumented immigrants respond to right-wing anti-immigrant rhetoric? This project traces the use of pro and anti-immigrant terminology in popular media to understand how undocumented immigrant activists construct counternarratives via social media. To address the research questions, I utilize content analysis to examine the language used by Fox and CNN, two top viewership news sources in the U.S., and Univision, the top Spanish-language news source in the U.S. Preliminary findings show Fox News utilizes negative immigrant terminology more frequently than CNN and their messaging aligns with a criminalized depiction of undocumented immigrants. Future directions for this project include a deeper analysis into what key actors deliver discourse, how messaging is framed, and the responses from undocumented immigrant activists. Guided by grounded theory, this project hopes to analyze content from the Instagram hashtags #ningunserhumanoesilegal and #chingalamigra. Undocumented immigrant activists use both tags to share immigrant rights information and present a humanized counternarrative to anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Author

• Priscila Mendieta, The University of Iowa