Immigrant Criminalization in Law and the Media

Abstract

This article examines the effects of two forces in the context of reception: the legal regime and enforcement practices and media portrayals of immigrants as they combine to shape the lives of immigrants, particularly Latinos, directly and indirectly. It focuses on the case of Latino immigrants living in Phoenix, Arizona. Although the context of reception is conceptualized as including laws and policies, the media contributes significantly, as media portrayals reinforce or fuel the effects of laws and policies. When laws are exclusionary and enforcement is expanded, negative media portrayals contribute to create a particularly hostile context at the level of formal institutions and at the level of public discourse. Immigrants respond in multiple ways, including shaping their identities to highlight their image as hard workers and to distance themselves from images of immigrants as criminals. These two forces shape immigrants’ views about themselves and of their position in U.S. society.