Vulnerability, precarity and the people in debates over immigration in local newspapers

Abstract

Mexican immigrants to the United States increasingly migrate to relatively new places such as Washington state, which now places in the top eight destination states. States wield increasing power to manage migration and negotiate residency at local scales. Although studies focus on migration debates in national and alternative media, little analysis has been done on newspapers in rural communities where migrants work and settle. We examine local English- and Spanish-language newspapers in rural Washington state to demonstrate how English-language newspapers legitimated competing interests and discourses of vulnerability versus precarity, whereas Spanish-language newspapers constituted a collective for rights connected historically to other subaltern groups. We then evaluate the potential for disrupting dominant discourses by local newspapers.