#HereToStay: United We Dream’s Twitter Response to the Rescinding of DACA

• In Event: Graduate Student Research Lightning Round: Social Movements, Conflict, Coalitions

Abstract

On September 5th of 2017, the Trump Administration announced the rescinding of the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). This immigration policy decision had immense ramifications for immigrant communities, in particular the young adults protected by DACA. Aside from traditional avenues for political participation, social media platforms have become a key tool for illegalized immigrant youth to actively engage in political discourse and organize political actions on their behalf. This project uses qualitative coding based on a grounded theory approach to study how the leading undocumented youth-led national immigrant organization, United We Dream (UWD), used Twitter as a tool to respond to 2017’s political environment surrounding DACA and its rescinding. The research findings highlight the ways in which UWD strategically used certain types of tweets and narratives to respond to the political opportunities and threats posed by anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy decisions.

Author

• Jessica Taghvaiee, University of California, Irvine