An article by Fox News describes how both presidential candidates Warren and Sanders having an agenda to “halt[ing] deportation of illegal immigrants” (Shaw, 2019). In the descriptions and quotes by both Sanders and Warren, there are description of immigrants being on equal par with U.S. citizens: ‘“when ICE comes into our communities, takes our neighbors, our friends, our family members – that they do not make this country safer”’ (Shaw, 2019). According to Zárate et al. (2004) “realistic group conflict theory… predicts that when people feel that others have similar skills and attributes, their sense of job security will be threatened” (Zárate et al., 104). Placing immigrants as equals may trigger grievances of immigrants ‘stealing’ jobs, however this is an ignorant argument, but still raises the concern for national group conflict on the matter.
The language used by news media can show how an author feels about immigration policies and immigrants themselves. In an article by usa today, author Josue De Luna Navarro discusses undocumented immigrants who live in constant fear of deportation and how it has an impact on one’s mental health. He displays empathy by describing the crackdown on immigrant by agencies such as ICE as “horrific” and “heartbreaking” (Navarro, 2019).
Articles by both Mathews (2019) and Perez (2019) display how intergroup contact theory (Pettigrew et.al, 272) can lead to reduction in prejudice against undocumented immigrants in America. Through working alongside legal Americans and creating a positive legacy, the two examples cited of undocumented people, one being an influential journalist and the other being blue collar dairy workers, show that intergroup contact theory has helped people understand each other and build trust. These undocumented Immigrants playing such a large role in our society and showing their ability to help in cooperative activities to achieve common goals will help undermine the prejudice created by the media’s message that legal American’s must fight immigrants for valuable resources and jobs, as predicted by Pettigrew (2011).
Mathews, J. (2019, May 31). Perspective | An American life: He’s 38, an undocumented immigrant and a school is being named for him. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/an-american-life-hes-38-an-undocumented-immigrant-and-a-school-is-being-name-for-him/2019/05/31/edd9c02a-823a-11e9-95a9-e2c830afe24f_story.html.
Navarro, J. D. L. (2019, November 12). For undocumented immigrants, our enforcement policies drive a public mental health crisis. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/11/12/daca-undocumented-immigrants-mental-health-stress-trauma-column/2562126001/.
Perez, M. (2019, November 21). Wisconsin’s dairy industry would collapse without the work of Latino immigrants – many of them undocumented. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/11/21/wisconsin-dairy-farms-rely-immigrant-workers-undocumented-laborers/4248901002/.
Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(3), 271-280.
Shaw, A. (2019, November 8). Warren says she’s open to halting deportation of illegal immigrants. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warren-says-she-is-open-to-halting-deportation-of-illegal-immigrants.
Zarate, M. A., Garcia, B., Garza, A. A., & Hitlan, R. T. (2004). Cultural threat and perceived realistic group conflict as dual predictors of prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 99-105.
Fantastic job with thinking the readings and articles into a cohesive piece! These all provide relevant topics and important points of discussion. This connections are completely important as they provide a deeper look into perspectives on this politically supercharged topic and for hat is exactly being expressed in the public eye. How do you think these viewpoints expressed would change based exclusively on media coverage presenting these challenges in different lights?
Good work noting how the intergroup contact theory can help build trust among people! I definitely agree that having common goals can help with reducing prejudice greatly.
I agree, I think that the treatment of immigrants and the ICE deportations is tragic and horrible on the mental health of the immigrants. There is also a stigma against immigrants, where people feel that they are “taking our jobs”(which is untrue). I also agree that the inter-group contact theory would be an effective approach to decrease the prejudices against this group. This intergroup contact should be exercised in a precise way, in order to avoid negative effects. For example, intergroup competition can further divide a group. However, mere exposure or friendships across these two groups can reduce the prejudices between the groups (Pettigrew 275). Additionally, these groups could become closer if members from each group worked together to achieve a common goal.
Great job including the citations in your paper without it affecting the flow of the paper. I also liked how you addressed the bias within these different immigration stories through the use of the authors syntax and word choice. Overall, very well done.
Hey guys!
I thought you did a really good job with connecting the articles to intergroup and realistic conflict theory. I also appreciated your comment on how authors of media today can use language to show emotion in their content. I think it is important to show empathy when dealing with heavy topics.