The Portrayal of Mexican Immigrants in Oklahoma History and Its Influence on State and Federal Immigration Reform

Abstract

The portrayal of Mexican immigrants in Oklahoma history is damaging to the growth and prosperity of the Mexican immigrant community because it enforces the stigma and negative stereotypes this community continues to battle today. This directly affects our current era because the consistent themes that immigrants are portrayed in ignite anti-immigrant rhetoric in society and policy work. Access to citizenship is one way that these narratives affect the population, as it continues to limit their access to resources, and at times portraying them as not deserving of citizenship and the legal rights, and protections citizenship would extend to the population. Such actions are enforced by the fear of allowing this community to become a part of this country because of the stereotypes created about them. Immigration policy cannot improve and serve all populations equally if the dominant narrative of Mexican immigrants is not dismantled, challenged, and analyzed. The perceptions of immigrants have been created and enforced throughout history, carried over time, and are still present in the media today. One such example is the 2016 election, and the propaganda used to gain public support by Donald Trump, who ran on the claim that "Mexico sent its "worst elements," including rapists, drug-runners, and criminals to the U.S., that "tremendous infectious disease" poured across the U.S.-Mexico border, and that a "beautiful" wall built between Mexico and the U.S. (and paid for by Mexico) was a necessary solution to the "problem" of immigration."2 It is vital to recognize how history continues to affect the future of marginalized communities. This research will aim to make that connection by exploring how negative perceptions of Mexican immigrants are directly connected to immigration reform in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is left out of the conversation on Latina/o/x history, and I argue it is a much-needed space to interrogate to speak to how populations have been negatively impacted by master narratives that framed them as outsiders. Key Words: Immigration Policy, Dominant Narrative, Mexican Immigrants, Oklahoma History 2 Winders, Jamie. 2016. "Immigration and the 2016 Election." The University of North Carolina Press (University of North Carolina Press) 56 (3): 291-296. VIII