Immigration Within the Contemporary Political Discourse

Matos, Yalidy

doi:10.4324/9781317211563-17

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…On the other hand, presidential rhetoric in the post-9/11 era is more positive than negative. At first glance, this might contradict the sentiment of other research (Branton et al, 2011; Matos, 2018; Sampaio, 2015) of heightened negativity toward immigrants as 9/11 shifted the frame of immigration policy to one of protecting national security (see Woods & Arthur, 2017). Yet, we think that this is an accurate depiction of the relative tone of the rhetoric of Presidents Bush and Obama.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Indeed, the qualitative research in this area paints a tricky path for nominal reformers like Bush and Obama in the post-9/11 era (Gerken, 2013; Matos, 2018; Sampaio, 2015). Bush’s guest worker program spoke to the importance of undocumented workers to the US economy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, the dominant frame of immigration policy—and perceptions of the immigrant population—changed after the September 11 terrorist attacks (Matos, 2018). Instead of focusing on undocumented workers as part of a functioning and fair economy for American workers (a primary debate of the 1990s immigration backlash), September 11th facilitated the framing of immigration policy as a national security issue (Sampaio, 2015).…”

Section: Explaining Presidential Attention To Immigrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because presidents should respond to these changes in the immigration policy debate, we expect that presidential attention to immigration will become more negative in response to Prop 187. Likewise, the period since September 11th produced more negative public attitudes (Branton et al, 2011), elite rhetoric (Matos, 2018), and more punitive immigration policies (Sampaio, 2015). Each of these developments in the post-9/11 era suggest a more negatively framed immigration policy agenda that should extend to the president, as well.…”

Section: Explaining Presidential Tonementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although we stop short of answering this question, we think our findings regarding presidential attention and tone may provide insight into why immigration reform has proven so complicated. Second, although elite rhetoric is a significant predictor of public attitudes on immigration (Jones et al, 2019), the immigration literature has not examined the president’s rhetoric systematically despite having marshalled evidence that presidential language can have a significant impact on public attitudes (Jones, Sherman et al, 2019; Matos, 2018; Oskooii et al, 2021). Finally, we add to the systematic study of immigration over time.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Politics of the President’s Immigration Rhetoric

Eshbaugh-Soha

Juenke

2021

American Politics Research

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Although research on immigration politics is extensive, few scholars have systematically connected immigration politics to the president’s rhetoric over time. This is surprising since all modern presidents have referenced immigration in their public statements and presidents play a central role in setting the policy agenda. The primary purpose of this paper is to explain the president’s immigration rhetoric since 1953. Thus, we collect all presidential speeches on immigration through the Obama Administration, calculating the president’s monthly attention to immigration, and the relative negativity of the president’s remarks. We theorize that presidents’ motivation to speak about immigration policy is driven by the attention others devote to immigration policy, and key interventions in the immigration policy debate. Rhetorical tone, we think, is a function of the changing policy definition of immigration generated by Prop 187 and the Post-911 era. Our results show that the content of presidential rhetoric on immigration is indeed a product of these factors, providing us with clear evidence as to when the president devotes public attention to one of the central issues of American politics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Explaining Presidential Attention To Immigrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Explaining Presidential Tonementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Politics of the President’s Immigration Rhetoric

Eshbaugh-Soha

Juenke

2021

American Politics Research

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Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics

Matos

2023

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Immigration has been at the heart of U.S. politics for centuries. This book examines the inherent moral, value-based nature of white Americans’ immigration attitudes. The book tests a theory about the centrality of morality with a series of empirical models that take advantage of public opinion survey data as well as the roll call votes of elected officials. Ultimately, the book argues that white Americans’ immigration attitudes are at bottom moral choices. The moral choice that whiteness affords, that not all racial groups have, is the choice to continue to produce and reproduce a system structured on white supremacy or to repudiate it. In this project, the book asks under what conditions do whites choose to lean toward reproducing whiteness and/or repudiating it and what role does whites’ socialization play in the moral choices whites make about immigration. The notable contribution of this book to the field of immigration is that it uniquely argues that not only does whiteness structure immigration but that immigration attitudes are inherently moral choices—choices that are learned through the socialization of group norms and continually dictated by partisanship and whiteness. White identity, identification, and whiteness undergird these moral narratives in varying ways. The immigration choices made by whites move toward either reproducing whiteness or repudiating it within the continuum of white supremacy. In this current climate, as immigration continues to be weaponized to divide, it is important to understand the roots of immigration attitudes in the United States.

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Matos

2023

Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics

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Immigration Within the Contemporary Political Discourse

Cited by 15 publications

References 1 publication

The Politics of the President’s Immigration Rhetoric

The Politics of the President’s Immigration Rhetoric

Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics

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