Constructing “Deservingness”: DREAMers and Central American Unaccompanied Children in the National Immigration Debate

Abstract

Utilizing a Latina/o Critical Theory framework (LatCrit), I examine the narratives that emerged within national newsprint media coverage of DREAMers and Central American unaccompanied children. Data included 268 newspaper articles published during periods of heightened national media attention about DREAMers (96 articles) and Central American unaccompanied children (172 articles). A content analysis revealed that prevalent and contradictory narratives created constructions of deservingness, where one group is positively portrayed as deserving of U.S. opportunity, and the other group, negatively portrayed as undeserving. The analysis shows that regardless of the positive or negative portrayals cast, constructions of “deservingness” are employed in these narratives that assigned values of non-nativeness to both groups that justify their continued subordination in U.S. society.