Controlling images of immigrants in the mainstream and Black press: The discursive power of the “illegal Latino”

In this paper, we investigate controlling images of Latinx immigrants in the US press. Our paper expands theory within this literature in two new directions. First, we look at the controlling image of the “illegal” as well as the conventional controlling images of the immigrant described in the literature. Second, we investigate whether controlling images of Latinx immigrants remain prevalent outside of newspapers aimed at a predominantly White audience by comparing controlling images of immigrants in Atlanta’s mainstream press to the city’s Black press. We find that controlling images of immigrants are prevalent in the mainstream press but seldom appear in the Black news media. We also find that the “illegal” represents the predominant controlling image of immigrants in both. Few controlling images are explicitly gendered. We argue that the lack of gendering in the controlling images of immigrants may serve to dehumanize all immigrants, complicating and expanding extant research.