We learn a lot of information from the things we are surrounded by, such as our family, cultures, and societies, also known as socialization (Kassin et al., 2021, Chapter 5). The American culture has historically been so against immigration and encourages these negative stereotypes, so many people fall into the trap of believing them and endorsing harsh laws and inequalities towards Mexican immigrants without knowing the facts.

Due to the cultural construction of the American identity and the prejudice against other cultures this has created, there is a strong focus on undocumented Mexican Immigrants who don’t fit the dominant looks and actions of an “ideal American”, for example speaking Spanish or living in a house with many renters. This focus creates unequal concern for law-abiding Mexican immigrants versus a law-breaking white Canadian immigrant, as used in this study, creating a privilege for white immigrants and undermining the original purpose of the immigration laws, to prevent crime, and further pushing the new purpose of ethnocentric exclusion (Mukherjee et al., 2013). 

This not only limits the rights of Mexican immigrants in terms of treatment by law enforcement, but it also increases their fear of the people who are supposed to protect them.