Solano Gomez 1 Karen Solano Gomez Professor Purnur Ozbirinci English 5 13 May 2023 The Immigration Paradox: Media’s Influence on Immigration “The system is not broken, it was created to work this way,”(00:45:00) remarks Lourdes Lee Vasquez, director and producer of The Immigration Paradox (2014), in her documentary. The topic of Immigration has long been debated in United States politics. More recently, Latinx people have been at the front of this issue with many of them fleeing to the U.S. in search of financial and safety security. Oftentimes they will enter without proper documentation, which is what causes controversy among U.S. citizens. Vasquez explains at the beginning of the documentary that she was at the scene of an immigration protest where she was witnessing both sides, Anti-Immigrant and Pro-Immigrant, yell at each other with an intense amount of anger and rage. She found herself yelling back with the same emotions and figured that if such strong feelings drove her to defend her “side” this passionately then the opposing protestors would likely be feeling the same anger as well, but why? The rest of the documentary focuses on Vasquez attempting to find the answer to her question. As Vasquez expresses through her documentary, The Immigration Paradox challenges viewers to reconsider what media outlets they use to obtain their news regarding immigration. Throughout the film, she presents us with multiple perspectives from a diverse group consisting of U.S. citizens, Latinx Immigrants, and even representatives of Immigration centered organizations. Though they didn’t necessarily agree, Vazques found that all of the groups were influenced to take their stance on Immigration based on the type of media they consumed. As described in Vasquez’s The Immigration Solano Gomez 2 Paradox, Media bias and manipulation against Latinx immigrants has and continues to cause an unnecessary divide among United States citizens. Throughout the film, Vazquez presents us with various examples in recent Immigration history in which the media has drawn a negative light towards Latinx Immigrants. In one example, Alejandro Hemorsillo, an immigrant interviewed by Vazques in the film, shares how the media has impacted his life. He shares, “If I watch Univision in Spanish, all they talk about is all the reforms, another raid, and they just keep talking and making a big chisme [or gossip] about them coming for us…You know, going on the streets I can’t be safe anywhere anymore. The cops used to take care of me, now they’re just hunting me down” (Vazquez 00:07:06). Many Latinx immigrants live in the same fear as Hermosillo because of a certain prejudice placed upon them by media distortion. In another interview by Vazquez, Dr. Micheal L. Schwalbe, a professor of Sociology at NC State, shares, “There’s no raw, neutral unmediated information. It’s always from a particular point of view and it’s always interpreted from a particular point of view” (Vazquez 00:10:40). The biggest reason for a divide in supporters on the issue of immigration is because the news they are receiving is written and produced by someone with an opinion on the issue. Media consumers must become aware of the bias that comes with their news. Though the issue of media manipulation against Latinx immigrants arose a few years ago, it continues to be an issue in modern-day media further causing a split among Americans. To begin, there are specific strategies used by media platforms today to frame Latinx immigrants as enemies. Jessie K. Finch, author of Undocumented Immigrants in the United States: An Encyclopedia of their Experiences (2014), discusses the negative nature of news coverage and his findings in detail. He shares, “Studies have noted print media’s framing of illegal immigration using metaphors of war (‘under siege,’ ‘invasion,’ ‘defending/holding the Solano Gomez 3 line,’ ‘sneaking in’) and natural disasters (‘floods of workers,’ ‘surges,’ ‘opening the floodgates,’ stemming the ‘tide’), and references to immigrants using dehumanizing imagery (‘round ups,’ ‘swarms’)” (Finch 458). After being regularly referenced with such anxiety-provoking language, it’s understandable why for many the topic of Immigration can strike a feeling of threat towards the audience. In reference to the metaphors of war, this sort of language is what further causes a divide amongst Americans. Finch adds, “Immigration coverage has also been linked with an ‘us versus them’ framing of the issue, emphasizing the ‘otherness’, foreignness, and alienation of immigrants” (Finch 458). These strategies of both discrimination and manipulation have been successful in creating a divide on the issue. The representation of immigrants from other countries is depicted as that of an “unknown entity” entering to live amongst U.S. inhabitants. Though they pose no serious threat, media reports on immigrants lead the public to believe they are invading the United States ultimately creating an enemy. Therefore, media outlets can be deemed as partially responsible for creating and enforcing the divide between U.S. citizens and immigrants. Moreover, studies regarding media impact further confirmed its damaging effects on intergroup relations between U.S. citizens and Latinx immigrants. In one study titled Media’s Influence on Immigration Attitudes: An Intergroup Threat Theory Approach (2016) conducted by Anita Atwell Seate and Dana Mastro, professors in the Departments of Communications at UCSB and University of Maryland, participants were asked to watch one of two news segments which either contained negative implications of immigration, “including increases in crime, threats to US culture, and threats to the economy” (Seate and Mastro 202) or a neutral segment which was made up of positive influences of immigration. They then followed up with a questionnaire about demographic information, including a few questions about immigration. Their research concludes that: Solano Gomez 4 The findings from the current study suggest that when individuals experience intergroup anxiety stemming from the media’s depiction of immigration threats, they report attitudes that are congruent with ingroup protection mechanisms. Intergroup anxiety appears also to be associated with both perceiving immigrants as deserving of fewer human rights and supporting stricter immigration policy. (Seate and Mastro 208) Because news outlets choose to depict Immigrants, especially Latinx immigrants, as such dangerous enemies, it’s only natural for U.S. citizens to feel threatened enough by news outlets to want to protect themselves from danger by implementing firmer immigration policies. With their study, Seate and Mastro have provided sufficient evidence for one to conclude that the consumption of discriminatory media does have negative consequences on consumers. In another study titled The Negative Effects of Mass Media Stereotypes of Latinos and Immigrants (2016) conducted by Tyler Reny and Sylvia Manzano, graduate students at UCLA, Reny and Manzano look to answer what kinds of stereotypes people hold of Latinxs and whether or not the media enforces these stereotypes. In concluding their research, they find that: In particular, those who consume and trust conservative media are more likely to agree with negative stereotypes and hold less favorable views about Latinos and immigrants while those who consume and trust liberal media are slightly more likely to reject those negative stereotypes and hold more favorable views of Latinos and immigrants. (Reny and Manzano 209) In the study, Reny and Manzano also mention that conservative media generally contains manipulative and distressing language and imagery, as mentioned previously. Because a particular set of television news stations choose to support and present topics with political bias, consumers run the risk of being unconsciously influenced by whichever news platform they Solano Gomez 5 usually access. Accordingly, one can conclude that the media itself is responsible for the intergroup division of U.S. inhabitants. As proven with sufficient research and evidence, it can be inferred that Media consumption directly correlates to negative preconceived opinions of Latinx immigrants. Media bias and manipulation against Latinx immigrants has and continues to sever the American community. Through the use of frightful language, misinterpreted imagery, and other similar tactics, all forms of media in the United States have developed a stigma around Latinx immigrants. To destigmatize the Latinx community and get rid of the division between anti- and pro-immigrant supporters, all media platforms must be held accountable. As Dr. Schwalbe mentioned, to avoid distortion or misinterpretation of media it should be presented in its raw and true form. News platforms should be presenting the full story of the issue without bias. Only then does one realize that the only reason we’re divided on an issue like Immigration is that the media made them believe it was an issue. By restructuring the way the media presents news, one will hopefully be able to uncover the truth that the system wasn’t broken, it was created to work that way. Solano Gomez 6 Works Cited Atwell Seate, Anita, and Dana Mastro. "Media's Influence on Immigration Attitudes: An Intergroup Threat Theory Approach." Communication Monographs, vol. 83, no. 2, 2016, pp. 194–213, https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2015.1068433. Accessed 12 May 2023. Finch, Jessie K. "Media Coverage." Undocumented Immigrants in the United States: An Encyclopedia of Their Experience, edited by Anna Ochoa O'Leary, vol. 2, Greenwood, 2014, pp. 457-460. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX6589300157/GVRL?u=library&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=0 3c68653. Accessed 12 May 2023. The Immigration Paradox. Dir. Lourdes Lee Vasquez. The Immigration Paradox Movie, 2014. Kanopy. https://santarosa.kanopy.com/video/immigration-paradox Reny, Tyler, and Sylvia Manzano. The Negative Effects of Mass Media Stereotypes of Latinos and Immigrants. UCLA, PhD dissertation. Google Scholar, Google, scholar.google.com.http://tylerreny.github.io/pdf/pubs/reny_manzano_stereotypes_2016.p df. Accessed 12 May 2023.
