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How is this experienced by Mexican Immigrants?
Affects of Stigmas& Stereotypes: Other Projects
Mexican immigrants may feel as though they must try to conceal their identity and culture, being careful who they speak around or the lifestyle they are a part of in fear that people may assume they're illegal immigrants and create problems because of it. Smart and Wegner argue that suppressing your identity can lead to a lot of preoccupation and create a struggle to think of anything else besides concealing the stigma of your identity. Having to hide who you are, be careful what you say, and monitor conversations with certain people or in certain places can be exhausting (Smart& Wegner 2000).
For the past 20 plus years, immigrant deterrence and the harsh laws surrounded by this goal have shaped how immigrants have been treated by institutions, especially law enforcement, and have also changed the way American people see those immigrants (HighCountryNews, 2020).
The laws that have been created make immigration seen scary, and horrible, and for that reason the laws need to be strict to ensure that it doesn’t occur. This makes Mexican immigrants look bad and allows negative feelings to be felt about them as a group.
Many people fear that immigrants are bringing violent crime into the country and associate them with drugs, rape, murder, etc. (Suárez-Orozco 2020). Although these crimes occur everywhere around the world, including very often in America by American people, people make claims that Mexican immigrants are coming to America bringing all these crimes with them, which although some may be, that doesn’t make it generalizable to the whole group.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the violent crime rate decreased 45% between 1990 and 2010 despite the percentage of immigrants increasing immensely (ADL 2019). Therefore associating immigrants with crime is inaccurate and damaging.
Overall, the stereotypes and stigmas associated with Mexican immigrants impact how they are treated and the resources they have access to. They are denied many rights that Americans have, many rights that are necessary to live a comfortable and safe life.
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