Abstract
Research has established that the media plays a significant role in nonimmigrant viewers’ perceptions and attitudes toward undocumented immigrants. However, limited scholarship has examined how 1.5-generation immigrant viewers may engage with media in an increasingly hostile immigration policy context. Drawing on 31 interviews with undocumented college students, the author examines how they engage with media and their feelings toward coverage on deportability, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and policy implementation. The findings reveal that undocumented college students are pushed to consider their potential deportability when they encounter media outlets mentioning detention centers, migration deaths, and other immigration enforcement tactics. Yet they can simultaneously benefit from engaging with media to inform themselves about policy developments, attitudes toward immigrant rights, and avoiding high-risk situations by understanding what immigration policies could do to them. Undocumented college students practice agency by either engaging with, curating usage, or avoiding certain traditional and social media platforms to avoid triggering thoughts about deportability. This research fills a crucial gap in media and deportability literature by revealing the differential ways in which undocumented college students’ legal status influences their agentic decision-making regarding traditional and social media.
J.D., a 24-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, reflected on his legal status and potential deportability when watching the news. He shared this after being asked about how changes in immigration policy affected him and his family over time. J.D. does not think about the constant threat of deportation. Instead, “it comes in waves,” and he can move through his everyday routine until something triggers his fear of deportability. J.D. identified the news as one of the prominent triggers that reminded him that he could be deported. In this work, I explore how 1.5-generation undocumented college students who migrated to the United States as children, like J.D., engage with traditional and social media to make sense of their deportability. Traditional and social media are our fastest and easiest method to access news through the Internet, televisions, radio, and countless other outlets. Yet it remains unclear to what extent undocumented college students engage with this media coverage and how it shapes their own understanding of legal status.
Traditional and social media are seen as a high-choice environment in which people choose the amount of content they consume (Karlsen, Beyer, and Steen-Johnsen 2020), and a growing number of people avoid watching media or share that they experience news fatigue (Gottfried 2020). Most literature on young adults media consumption often focuses on their political knowledge and opinion formation but not their feelings regarding news coverage (Shehata 2016). New literature on undocumented 1.5-generation immigrants has reported that they resist media narratives by challenging negative portrayals and uplifting counternarratives instead, showcasing their agency in the process (Vaquera, Castañeda, and Aranda 2022). Accounting for deportability, it has been found that situational triggers can occur watching media coverage on immigration enforcement for 1.5-generation undocumented college students (Enriquez and Millán 2021). Focusing on undocumented college students is crucial as we can explore how media coverage could pose various benefits or disadvantages through an increase of awareness of deportability, anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy. By highlighting why and how media hurt, we can begin to understand immigrant groups’ experience with it and their acts of resistance. This led me to ask, what do traditional and social media feel like for a vulnerable population such as undocumented college students? How does traditional and social media inform undocumented college students’ understanding of risk? How do undocumented college students practice agency when consuming traditional and social media?
In this study, I define traditional media as TV news outlets and published online articles in media outlets. The participants in this study never referred to specific media outlets but talked broadly about news outlets in general. Social media for undocumented college students is defined as app-based platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook, the top three mentioned among participants. Both traditional and social media came up throughout interviews and were differentiated among undocumented college students.
Drawing on 31 interviews with undocumented college students, most of whom are DACA recipients, I argue that undocumented college student’s media consumption is directly influenced by perceptions of their own deportability and vice versa. Undocumented college students began to understand the consequences of immigration enforcement through media consumption. Media coverage informed them of current immigration enforcement tactics that could put them at risk for deportation. In the same thread, their perceptions of deportability directly influenced the level of media consumption they partake in. With media serving as a potential situational trigger, it reproduced deportation fears and became a motivating factor to limit media use or avoid it. To others, it became a risk management tool by informing undocumented college students of anti-immigrant sentiments, policy changes, and warnings of high-risk activities for undocumented immigrants. Overall, I showcase a dialectic relationship between undocumented students’ deportability and media exposure, leading them to take on agentic decision making in their interactions with traditional and social media.
Literature Review
Media coverage of undocumented migration has contributed to hegemonic understandings of immigrant illegality. Through social construction, immigration laws have produced and labeled people as “illegal” (De Genova 2002, 2005; Ngai 2004). While federal, state, and local laws have created legal categories for undocumented immigrants, media discourse has helped frame perceptions of them. Media has been found to depict undocumented individuals (mainly Latino men) as dangerous, others, and criminals (Chavez 2013; Pérez Huber and Solorzano 2015). Although, as demonstrated through analyzing antideportation youth-led campaigns covered by the media, it can also foster “deserving” and “undeserving” normative understandings of citizenship (Patler and Gonzales 2015). This can vary by states and topics; for example, in California, Tennessee, and Georgia, each news media outlet was found to take on its own agenda setting when it came to undocumented students in higher education, setting them up as deserving of public benefits (Alcantar et al. 2024). Thus, the media’s words and images can mold how people perceive and evaluate policies concerning racialized issues such as immigration (Domke, McCoy, and Torres 1999; Gilliam, Valentino, and Beckmann 2002). This has built the narrative of how the public understands undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Past literature on immigration and media often focused on immigrants as objects to be acted upon by states and citizens, neglecting them as subjects and consumers. Over the past four decades, the media focus on immigration policy has intensified (Branton et al. 2011; Branton and Dunaway 2008). The portrayal of immigrants as criminals has been found to negatively influence white opinions about immigration policy (Hartman, Newman, and Scott Bell 2014). Negative framing and the pressure on immigration is associated with a policy emphasis on immigration enforcement (Jones-Correa and De Graauw 2013). Individuals who largely consume news through television are more likely to advocate for restrictive immigration policy, with the most notable efforts coming from those who watch Fox News (Gil de Zúñiga, Correa, and Valenzuela 2012). Social media provides us another valuable insight into a range of public opinions, as tweets during the pandemic ranged from standing in solidarity with the community to blaming undocumented immigrants for the lack of resources available (Flores Morales and Farago 2021). Although this has helped us understand the political standpoint of citizens regarding immigration policy, we have only just begun to unpack the impacts it has on immigrant communities.
Emerging research on undocumented immigrant’s media consumption has focused on the traditional media consumption of first-generation immigrants as they rely on the media to navigate everyday life and deportation threats. Menjívar (2016) drew out the impact of media portrayal on the context of reception for Latino immigrants in Arizona, as it shapes “immigrants views of themselves and how they respond to such messages.” Specifically, immigrants note what characteristics fall under the medias image of “criminals” and try to separate themselves from such perspectives by working hard and living a “clean life” (Menjívar 2016). First-generation immigrants therefore use media to inform themselves and their future behaviors by keeping track of how the public regards them. Research also suggests that undocumented immigrants rely on the news to navigate deportation threats. The heightened criminalization of immigrants combined with the extensive media coverage of it during the Trump administration, was found to affect the lives of immigrants in both rural and urban Kansas (Cervantes, Alvord, and Menjívar 2018). Seeing coverage on Univision, a Spanish-speaking channel, of immigration enforcement entering homes and detaining folks in public spaces, influenced immigrants to stay vigilant and avoid leaving their homes to decrease their chances of deportation (Cervantes et al. 2018). This finding is highly relevant, as the media have extensively covered Trump’s administration and the harsh immigration enforcement he has enacted. Both these articles serve as building blocks as they focus exclusively on established undocumented immigrants. This provides a foundation for understanding how younger undocumented college students perceive their relationship with traditional and social media.
Literature has covered how 1.5- and first-generation undocumented communities experience illegality differently on the basis of generation. First-generation immigrants live in fear because of their vulnerable status, potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at work sites, and the lack of legal recourse available to them (Abrego 2011). On the other hand, the 1.5-generation becomes acutely aware of their legal status later in life, confronting the stigma that comes with having an undocumented status as they navigate school (Abrego 2011). For the 1.5-generation, media can be a source of anxiety, as media can use anti-immigrant rhetoric to spread racial stereotypes, reminding them to be wary of everyday interactions (Vaquera et al. 2022). As media coverage on immigration ranges from deportation, detention, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and policy changes, it can serve as situational triggers for 1.5-generation undocumented college students who fear deportation (Enriquez and Millán 2021). A situational trigger is a phenomenon in which fears are contextual and only arise in response to potential deportation threats, so they only occur when folks anticipate or experience an interaction with immigration enforcement (Enriquez and Millán 2021). Situational triggers are important, considering the media’s impact on how often undocumented 1.5-generation college students think about their potential deportation and shapes their understanding of rhetoric and policy.
Research on the 1.5-generation indicates that they are not merely passive consumers of media, but have been found to actively make changes that impact their communities, particularly on social media. Undocumented youth have built their own network, through online platforms (Facebook, YouTube, etc.), facilitating the spread of resources among online communities and mobilizing political actions that directly affect them and future generations (Zimmerman 2012). Many have called out the harmful use of the term
Data and Methodology
This research uses interview data from the larger UC Collaborative to Promote Immigrant and Student Equity (UC PromISE). During the summer of 2021, through July and September, our larger team conducted 63 interviews with former and current undergraduate students who are part of mixed-status families. All the interviewees attended a large public university campus in California and were recruited from the initial survey of 2,742 children of immigrants. The survey was conducted in spring 2020 and assessed the extent to which immigration-related policies produce inequalities in the educational and wellbeing outcomes of undocumented college students and citizen students with undocumented parents. The goal of the follow-up interviews was to highlight the legal vulnerability in the lives of students and their families and how these experiences could shape their educational trajectory, mental health and political engagement outcomes. The interview guide was developed by Dr. Laura E. Enriquez, the principal investigator, with feedback from the larger UC PromISE team.
The subsample is split between 31 undocumented college students and 32 U.S. citizen students with one undocumented parent. I focus on the 31 undocumented college students for this study and define undocumented status as having no permanent legal status. This definition includes DACA recipients, as they have only two-year temporary protection and no legal pathway to citizenship.
Participants
This study specifically draws on the interviews with 31 undocumented college students who identify as Latina/o/x. From our interviews with undocumented students, there were 21 participants who were DACA recipients and 10 with no legal status. Of the undocumented subsample, 21 self-identified as women and 10 self-identified as men. The age range was 20 to 34 years. A breakdown of participant demographics appears in Table 1.
Participant Characteristics.
Procedures
Eligible Latina/o/x participants were recruited from the 2020 children of immigrants survey by the team, who consented to be contacted for future research opportunities. The initial survey respondents were contacted through widely spread announcements that included e-mails and social media posts from their campus undocumented students services office, department and university newsletters, undocumented student organizations, and faculty teaching general education and ethnic studies courses. Eligible participants were sent a recruitment e-mail and up to three text messages. In terms of the underrepresented survey participants who identified themselves as men or had no legal status, all of the potential participants who fell into one of these two categories were sent recruitment information. At first, recruitment was conducted in waves by contacting every fifth person on an alphabetical list of the remaining survey participants who were eligible from three campuses. The interviews were approximately 1.5 hours long on average and took place via Zoom. With consent from participants, all interviews were recorded and transcribed.
The first part of the interview covered topics related to self and family members’ immigration status and legal vulnerabilities such as deportation concerns, past deportation experiences, financial strain, access to resources, discrimination, and how these may be experienced among family members. The second part of the interview explored topics on educational pathways, academic performance, mental health and wellbeing, and political engagement. The final sets of questions assessed the use of campus resources and the perception of campus climate as it relates to helping the student manage their own or families’ legal vulnerability. Participants were assigned pseudonyms to protect their identity and were compensated with a $40 gift card for their participation
Analysis
Interviews were transcribed and uploaded to HyperResearch. The cases were analyzed in three stages of analytic coding. The initial stages were to set up attributes and this helped organize who was part of the sample. This made it easier to keep track of respondent demographics and other relevant information. Then, index coding was broken down by sections of the interview protocol. There were nine sections to the index codes which included, introduction, self and family immigration, legal vulnerability, educational journey, academics, mental health, political engagement, campus resources, campus climate, and life after college. After this, analytic codes such as triggers, forms of legal vulnerability, and mental health, were applied to the index code sections. The abundant mentions of media among participants led me to develop subsequent analytic coding focusing on media as a trigger, risk management learned through media, and media use. Going through the data, I ignored the attributes of a participant so I could later note if there was a qualitative difference by attributes. The process of reducing the data down from their original full transcripts to indexed extracts, and finally grouping them as analytic codes allowed me to judge whether I had applied uniform qualitative criteria across the sample, increasing the reliability of my analysis (Deterding and Waters 2021).
Findings
Contextualizing Media Consumption
Undocumented college students consume a variety of media throughout their lifetimes in Spanish-speaking, English-speaking, and social media curated formats. Although it is difficult to pinpoint all the media platforms undocumented college students used throughout their life courses, I found that traditional media, such as Spanish-speaking or English-speaking news, and social media were the three most common to arise in our conversations. Their exposure to traditional news, such as Spanish-language news, was expected and linked to their familial spaces. English-speaking traditional media was broadcasted in public spaces they frequented, or news articles found through internet search engines. The relevance of social media in their lives was not surprising, as social media has been used to share information and obtain it. This contextualizes findings as to why undocumented students engage in some forms of media more than others and the way certain traditional or social media could be affecting them.
Undocumented college students’ first encounters were Spanish-speaking news from childhood to adulthood through the consistent exposure in their familial space. Undocumented college students vicariously consume media information through their parents and their surroundings growing up. There were multiple references to their family members’ constant use of media. As 21-year-old DACA recipient Leticia tells us, “My mom, she sees the news a lot and my dad, both of them.” For undocumented college students, it was part of their household to tune into Spanish-speaking news outlets. Undocumented college students could draw on direct connections to this media format (from a younger age to the present) as a trigger for them to think of their families and their own deportability. This is expressed by DACA recipient Arely, a 20-year-old, who was asked to reflect if she knew from a young age that she was undocumented. Arely had shared that she always knew; “I would say when I was young. Like I said, it was that fear of deportation, because it was something that you’d see on the news, my parents would talk about it.” Arely can reflect on her younger self and connect the fear of deportation as something she saw on the news growing up. This further establishes the presence of media in the familial space and their early consumptions of it beginning to shape their understanding of legal status.
As they aged, undocumented college students shared their experience with mostly English-speaking news media in communal spaces or where they actively sought it out via search engines. Although undocumented college students never provided specific details on which media platforms they frequented, they made references as to what different forms they would come across in adulthood. Lucia, a 20-year-old DACA recipient, shared this public space encounter with the media, “I was literally at the gym and I had seen, what’s it called? I had seen a news report about DACA being rescinded in the court.” Lucia shared this after being asked if family circumstances made it difficult for her to participate in college. Undocumented college students do not have to seek out broadcasted media as it can be encountered through public spaces where televisions are left on (gym, waiting room, etc.). Another format is through consuming traditional English-language media from various online outlets. Clara, a 23-year-old with no legal status “read that immigration was not allowed in schools.” Undocumented college students could use the Google search feature and access online media sources when seeking out information on immigration policy and law. Although it allowed them to pick and choose which online sources to gather information from, the search engine provided various results. Undocumented college students can both come across and actively seek out the traditional English-speaking media in their everyday lives. Yet the latter type of encounter was very limited, as many students did not mention watching the news on their own time. Undocumented college students’ interactions with English-speaking news and online sources were sporadic but crucial as it showcased where and when they saw it, whether in a public space or in their own search for information.
Undocumented college students do not only passively consume media but also engage with it through social media posts they actively seek out or interact with. Participants mentioned social media at length, especially in reference to their political engagement and or how they become informed about certain topics. Nicole, a 22-year-old with no legal status, exemplifies this by stating, “We don’t really watch TV and that type of thing, but everything’s on social media. So that’s how they are able to know what’s happening around us.” She emphasized social media’s role in informing her of how immigration laws affected herself and her family. The importance of social media was echoed by other participants. They identified social media as a key source of news in tandem with traditional Spanish- and English-language news outlets. For example, students mentioned engaging with X (formerly Twitter) to gather news updates and see the political discourse. Social media made it easier to access current events. This format allowed undocumented college students to further engage with media, by sharing, reposting or highlighting news that matters to them. Penelope, a 28-year-old with no legal status, was asked to what extent immigration policies affected her political engagement. She shared, “I think I’m just more outspoken on social media in general about immigrant rights, social justice type of topics and then when it comes up in conversation.” Thus, Penelope and those like her did not just passively consume news. Rather, they were able to speak up about issues they cared about and share their knowledge about it. Undocumented students viewed social media as a proactive approach to engage with current events around them without just being passive viewers.
Consequences of Media Consumption: What Do They See and Fear?
Although there is a pervasive threat of deportation for undocumented college students, the fear is not always constant and is situationally deployed. As we know, situational triggers can occur from police presence, driving and participating in other high-risk activities. For participants such as Pilar, a 21-year-old DACA recipient, the media is one such situational trigger but why? Pilar has been asked to what extent immigration policies affected her academics, following up with how DACA affected these challenges;
Well, I feel like nowadays it’s a concern of, oh, what’s going to happen to me? So we’re always talking, try to talk about what could happen, the possibilities and stuff like that. I try not to think about it often, but eventually, I do often think about it.
Is there anything that triggers it, anything like that?
The news, I feel the news is the one that kind of just keeps reminding me of my status.
Pilar’s reflection after I probed her on what triggers it, she states the news as it reminds her of the threat of deportation and the uncertainty of her legal status. Although DACA recipients are protected from removal for two years (this can be renewed), these recipients shared the same sentiments as students with no legal status. Undocumented college students navigate heavy feelings that are triggered by watching the news and being reminded of their legal status. What aspects of media trigger fears of deportability? I find that fear is triggered by specific media coverage of crossing, detainment, deaths and violence, immigration enforcement, and anti-immigrant interactions. This informs the creation of a situational trigger and shapes the frequency in which they think of their deportability.
Crossing and Detention
One fear undocumented college students identified in media coverage was border-crossing and detention, pinpointing this as a trigger that would exacerbate their fear of being at risk (real or perceived) for deportation. Lucia, a 20-year-old DACA recipient, was asked if she ever thought of the possibility of her own deportation. Her answer gives us insight on the specific trigger:
Just seeing how people are treated on the border where there are people in cages, like children in cages and all of that. It kind of hurts because it’s like those could easily be us. We’re also undocumented just like they are.
Lucia had not directly mentioned being near or encountering people in cages during the interview, but instead, she saw these images from the media, as discussed in earlier quotes.
This depiction of the border and the detainment of children in cages made her think of her and her own family’s possible deportation, establishing a trigger. This established media as a source of fear when covering crossing and detainment of incoming migrants, reminding undocumented students of the realities of their legal status. Although some may not be able to remember their own crossings, they understand that detention could occur for them.
Crossing and Mortality
News depictions of detainment after crossing were just one set of fears, as the mortality of immigrants crossing the border were another source of fear for undocumented students. Zoe, a 22-year-old DACA recipient, had been speaking to us about how immigration laws and policies affected her and her family. She shares what she hears in the news about this,
Sometimes that’s why I don’t like hearing any news on that because it’s too sad and it’s so heartbreaking. Especially when you hear about all the deaths that occur and just the family talking about it. I think I’m kind of emotionally strong sometimes, but I think that just breaks my heart. . . because you start putting yourself in their position.
Zoe goes on to tell us the story of her uncle who had been beaten crossing the border and the $17,000 fee he had to pay to get to the United States. Zoe states that although he was beaten, he could have ended up worse. Undocumented college students do not just see the crossing and detainment that folks experience but the deaths that can occur at the hands of the state. Zoe’s story references a popular news topic: the number of deaths that can occur when crossing the border. Undocumented college students are seeing and hearing about the violent deaths migrants face when crossing. The media coverage of crossing and death of immigrants establish another trigger for thinking of their own deportability. As Zoe states, “you start putting yourself in their position,” even though undocumented students have already crossed over, they face the same consequences of having no legal status. Zoe’s uncle being beaten is important to consider as well. Although he did not die crossing the border, the depictions in the media made her fear for his safety. Images of violence and death portrayed in the media created a trigger for undocumented students to consider their own deportability, and future families’ crossings.
Immigration Enforcement
Just as detention and deportation of immigrants is covered by the media, so is the immigration enforcement practices that agents use to target the undocumented community. Undocumented college students see immigration enforcement tactics being covered on the news and make note on where it is happening, such as hospitals, schools, and airports.
I saw the news and even immigration was in buses here in stop buses and I think airports too, of course they are in airports . . . in hospitals too. There was a case in Texas, this child needed, I think, she needed an operation . . . the case is that immigration was looking for a child, a kid of the age of eight years, I think, that was unreasonable. There’s nothing to look for in a child. Even though she’s undocumented, immigration has nothing to do. . . . So that’s why I fear that if immigration could do that in a hospital, they could do that too in a campus.
Clara expresses this sentiment that many college students shared. The news coverage on the immigration enforcement occurring all over reminds them how easily this can occur in public spaces. Both undocumented and DACA recipients’ students shared that they were not sure what would happen to them and both groups were triggered by the media to think about their (real or perceived) deportability. This reaffirms findings on how triggering media coverage on immigration enforcement activity is for undocumented college students in general. As shown through these quotes, situational triggers are established throughout undocumented college students’ life trajectories; and media is one of the present triggers in thinking of deportability.
Rising Anti-immigrant Sentiment
Last, the media informs them of anti-immigrant rhetoric and public sentiments on undocumented immigrants. Coming across anti- or proimmigrant sentiments shapes the way they regard potential interactions with strangers. Marcos, a 21-year-old DACA recipient, was asked if he ever faced any discrimination because of the current immigration policies. Marcos shared,
Growing up . . . my city is pretty much 99% brown and Black. So I’m surrounded by people of color and people who grew up like me. And in my home town, I always felt safe in that way. And then, even in Santa Cruz, it’s a very diverse and liberal place, so I’ve never directly felt anything like that. On TV and stuff like that, that’s a different story. . . . The whole political stance of the former president with his immigrant propaganda and the “build the wall” stuff and seeing how many people in this country actually support something like that. You start seeing the world in more of a negative way because someone can be nice to you, but they could be against undocumented immigrants, and you’re an undocumented immigrant without them knowing, but how would they see me if they knew?
Once participants took in the media coverage, specifically through the 2020 Trump administration, they began to contextualize their surroundings differently. They began to worry of the potential interactions they could encounter and how others would view their undocumented status. This was a shared sentiment amongst undocumented college students. This was due to the negative opinions surrounding immigrants, even more so than before. Some undocumented college students encountered discrimination depending on their location, but others found themselves coming across negative discourse online. Alonzo, a 22-year-old with no legal status, shares that although he did not come across anti-immigrant sentiments directly, he did through social media and the news:
Some other examples might be being treated poorly or feeling ignored when seeking help because of things like anti-immigrant sentiment or policies that exclude immigrants. Have you felt that before?
Not on a personal level. Not like someone directly speaking to me and saying all these things. I think it’s usually things that you’ll hear on the news or in social media. Stuff like that.
With traditional and social media, they were exposed to the growing anti-immigrant rhetoric that triggered them to think about their legal status with fear. Undocumented college students came to anticipate real or potential interactions with folks who may hold anti-immigrant sentiments, feeling unsure of sharing their status in general. Thus, increasing their distrust of new people, informing their risk management strategies later on. The constant exposure through media informed undocumented college students of the harsh realities other immigrants faced before they arrive in the United States and afterward.
Risk Management Learned from Media
Undocumented college students use a management strategy of staying under the radar to avoid threats. They seek to draw attention away from themselves through sticking to their routines and blending in as best they can. By learning of immigration enforcement tactics and where they target through media coverage, undocumented students embrace patterns to avoid detection. Sabrina, a 21-year-old DACA recipient, was asked if she ever tried to prevent the possibility of deportation for herself and her family. She shared,
I know my parents are very safe, so they’re always on the news just doing what they can, not getting into trouble or things like that. Same thing with me. I try to just keep myself out of trouble, to not catch too much attention on myself, to where someone sees me, they’re like, “Oh, who is she?” kind of thing. So I just kind of stay under the radar.
Sabrina pinpoints the news as the source that informs her and her family on what they should not engage in to steer clear of possibly being detained and deported. Students continuously learn about immigration enforcement through media and take in that information to “stay under the radar.” This risk management strategy helps them navigate their deportability, taking account what and who is being reported on in the news. Not only are they learning about strategies, but they are also considering how immigrants are viewed and portrayed in the media.
This is expanded by Sylvia, a 27-year-old DACA recipient, as she acknowledged her concerns on possibly being deported and detained like she saw on the news. She provided us with more context on how these worries pushed her to consider her everyday choices, “We try not to worry about it but it’s inevitable. Sometimes, you have to think and say, ‘Well, I have to behave well because this can happen to me. I can get deported as well.’”
Although staying under the radar is a risk management strategy, it is also heavily informed by the idea of deserving and undeserving immigrant narratives in the media. We see students consciously try to “behave well” so that no one can point them out as dangerous, sticking to routine to mitigate any risks. By straying away from characteristics and activities that are high-risk and portrayed as a threat to society, undocumented college students are taking in what media and society regard as ‘undeserving immigrants’ (Gonzales 2016). Past research informs us that undocumented communities work toward a life without “trouble,” leading their life carefully to ensure they are not labeled as criminals by the media (Menjívar 2016). This leads undocumented college students to regard their behaviors and activities with caution, careful to consider their deportability. Thus, the risk management strategy of staying under the radar is equally informed by the fear of deportation and the need to distance themselves from being regarded as “troublesome” and “undeserving” by the media and the state.
Avoiding Enforcement
As undocumented college students view media coverage on detainment, they see what could possibly lead to that and make sure to avoid spaces that involve immigration enforcement or authorities in general. One constant high-risk activity involved political engagement through protesting, marching, and spaces where police enforcement was present. After Lucia told us that she did think of the possibility of deportation, I asked her if she worried only for herself or for her family. She shared that it was both, but specifically of herself:
The fear is there because people get deported for less. Sometimes I’m afraid to attend protests and things that I actually am concerned for because of how you’ll see in the media people are getting detained or those things. I don’t want to risk having a record.
Undocumented college students realized people get deported for less, so they avoid attending protests that would more than likely hold law enforcement. Once again affirming that the risk management strategy they learned from the media was to avoid spaces that would hold police officers, and any enforcement connected to immigration. Although U.S. citizens can get arrested, the consequences for undocumented college students would be harsher and could jeopardize their lives in the United States. As media coverage showcases folks being arrested and the high police activity, undocumented college students are afraid to engage in this risky behavior. This dictates how they approach spaces that could hold enforcement officers. Thus, avoidance of enforcement is a risk management strategy informed by the news media coverage, reminding undocumented students of their deportability.
Weighing the Local Context
To plan for the future, undocumented college students considered media coverage in different local contexts to inform their decision-making. This served as a risk management strategy by not just informing them of what spaces they currently occupy look like, but also in weighing potential future local contexts. Lucia was asked if her own family’s immigration status affected her educational aspirations and where she attended college. She goes on to tell us that yes, it did affect her decision:
For me, I stayed and I chose . . . as my school because I’m undocumented because I’m so close to my family here. . . . I was very conflicted because I was planning on going to UC San Diego and just the idea of my parents going over there with all the news about people being stopped and checkpoints just because it’s so close to the border, I feel it would have just caused more tension for me for them to visit or for me to visit them or anything. I guess it did have an impact on where I’m going to school.
Undocumented college students take in media coverage on the presence of immigration enforcement in specific locations and use it to inform their decision making. Students use the information they gather, which is fueled by fear, to assess what risks are worth taking and which are not when it comes to moving for school, work, and so on. In this case, the risk of moving to San Diego, a location that garners a lot of media attention for its proximity to the border, was not worth it. Undocumented college students must weigh the current and future local context risks, and they do so by informing themselves of where high immigration enforcement occurs. They use the media as one of those information sources to weigh any current or future threats, which in turn, triggers them to think of their deportability.
Practicing Agency: Avoidance, Engagement, and Curated
As undocumented college students weigh the risks (situational trigger) and benefits (risk management) of consuming media, they practice agency by having the power to choose how to engage in specific media consumption. I find that undocumented students actively decide their approach to media in three pathways: avoidant, engaged, and curated. This uniquely positions undocumented college students as active consumers and not just passive consumers in media. They have an agentic approach, one that takes account of their needs and boundaries.
News Avoidance
Violeta, a 21-year-old DACA recipient, was asked how often she thought about deportation. She shared that it is in the back of her mind, usually, but tells us how she practices avoidance to have a better mindset:
I focus on a lot of the what ifs of, “What if this happened? What would we do?” But I try not to go there a lot. . . . There’s a lot of things that are always out of my control. I just try to tell myself, “There’s something that. It’s out of my control. I can’t really do anything about them.” So I try not to think about them which is why sometimes I stay away from the news and stuff, because it’s kind of a constant reminder of what I already know. In that sense, I don’t really like to be reminded just because it does bring back a lot of those thoughts that I have.
Violeta’s sentiment echoes among a handful of other undocumented college students, as they are equally concerned about their future and what could happen to them. The uncertainty of the future, of immigration policy, was something they could not control but instead were able to practice agency in other ways. Undocumented college students practice agency by actively abstaining from news consumption to avoid falling into a spiral about their legal status. Understanding that media is an established situational trigger for undocumented students was crucial, as it becomes one of the factors in avoiding traditional or social media. Undocumented college students did not have to consume news media, as they have the agency to abstain from it, avoiding the trigger it can come with. This agentic approach to avoid traditional and social media, allowed them to take control of their emotions and established boundaries that reduced thoughts on deportability.
Frequent News Engagement
Some undocumented college students see risk management benefits of keeping up with traditional and social media, as it keeps them up to date with new policies and new risks. They could know what low and high-risk activities were from the presence of immigration enforcement, local context, and public opinion, as mapped out earlier. A handful of undocumented college students take on a highly engaged approach to it. Sylvia states how she and her family constantly look at the news for immigration policies and are conscious of their decision to do so:
I think we’re constantly looking at the news. We’re constantly referencing just things just to be aware of what’s going on, especially with the government’s policies, they’re changing all the time. New presidents are coming in, talking about some subcultures. It’s just chaotic. We try to keep up just to become aware. We don’t like surprises.
As noted, undocumented college students such as Sylvia use it to build their risk management strategies and inform themselves. Undocumented students rely on news media for immigration policy and enforcement to help them understand what threats they could encounter and how to avoid them. Throughout the interview Sylvia uses “we” to capture that this is a practice that she does not engage with alone but alongside her family. Those like Sylvia choose to consciously engage with the news while acknowledging its effects, stressing the importance of keeping up to date on immigration policy. This felt particularly crucial to undocumented students who may qualify for the DACA program. Starting with the program’s rescission in 2017, DACA has been the subject of drawn-out legal threats to dismantle the program throughout the year (National Immigration Law Center 2025). Additionally, Sylvia acknowledged how even during President Biden’s term, things were not moving forward: “He proposed many great things. To this day, we’re not anywhere where we want to be or anywhere where he proposed.” Participants shared this sentiment of needing to know what’s going on with immigration reforms and to do that, they relied on the news. Regardless of legal status, undocumented college students still tuned into the immigration policy discourse, in general, to hear of any changes that will affect their lives.
Curated Media
The other engaged pathway undocumented college students took was a curated media consumption, where students engaged only through social media platforms. This is critical to their generation, as social media is a format a lot of them are familiar. Some undocumented college students consciously only interacted with social media, as seen with Letica, a 21-year-old DACA recipient. Leticia had been asked if her immigration status affected her family members and how. She stated, “And every morning I look at Twitter. Those are one of the ways that I keep updated with like the DACA studies. So I do keep up with that.” Leticia consciously chooses to consume media through social media such as Twitter (now X) because of her mother, who would watch the news too often:
My mom, she sees the news a lot. . . . I know they would get worried about it, but then afterwards I told her to stop thinking about it too much, overthinking it. And so I told her to start watching Netflix or something. So she could not stress over my situation . . . sometimes the news can be a little bit more scarier. And so I just wanted to protect her and her mental wellness. Yeah, she does occasionally watch the news now and then.
Leticia kept up with media but established limits as to how often and where to look at it. This spotlights how undocumented students chose a curated approach of social media to have agency in the type of engagement they put into practice. In part, their decisions are informed by the triggers they encounter in traditional media, where they have less control of the content. Undocumented college students therefore manage their interaction with the media by choosing to consciously curate their approach by sticking to only social media. In these spaces they have control of who they follow, what resources they follow, and have a more curated view of the media.
Students practiced agency and found what worked best for them and their wellbeing. As much as students can stay updated with traditional media, it does not mean it always provides relief. Some chose to avoid it completely to ensure avoid thinking of their deportability. Others frequently engaged in traditional and social media to understand and mitigate any potential risk. Some students practiced agency by sticking to social media use and establishing boundaries that worked for them. All the undocumented college student interviewees shared the awareness that the media was a trigger for them; therefore, they each adopted an agentic approach that worked within their boundaries and needs. They could practice agency by either avoiding it, frequently engaging in it, or curating their use.
Discussion and Conclusion
In this work, I illustrate the importance of acknowledging the media’s influence on the development of situational triggers among 1.5-generation undocumented college students throughout their life courses and the risk management strategies they adopt. By focusing on undocumented college students, some protected by DACA, and obtaining higher education, I could examine the mechanisms by which their (potential) deportability would come up. As there is low salience in deportation among this group, I explored factors that depict deportability but not necessarily experiencing it firsthand. Situational triggers (Enriquez and Millán 2021) were found in this group of undocumented college students, as they linked media as a trigger to thinking of and foreshadowing immigration enforcement activity. Undocumented students recognized that negative news portrayal influenced individuals’ attitudes toward immigration, as DACA recipient Marcos had discussed in his interview (Brader, Valentine, and Suhay 2008). Undocumented college students not only noted the shift of public opinions on immigrants, but they brought up how this fueled their fear of deportability. Although past literature understands the power media has on nonimmigrant viewers, this research takes into account the vulnerable group of undocumented college students who come across the same media. I find that undocumented college students took in anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy to understand the context in which they live. Undocumented college students tried to stay under the radar, avoided public spaces with enforcement, and weighed their current and future local context carefully.
Media served as a reminder of potential deportation, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and policy effects. Through the lens of traditional and social media, I found what specifically triggered undocumented college students to think of their deportability. News coverage on immigration enforcement in public spaces, treatment at the border, and immigrants’ deaths came up as some triggers that reminded students of their potential deportation. For students who engaged on social media, the anti-immigrant sentiments stood out, specifically regarding DACA opinions. Media coverage on DACA recipients being detained fueled the fears of undocumented college students with DACA. As we know, deportation threats and fears can be pervasive (e.g., situational triggers) as deportation can happen at any time (Gonzales 2011). This study shows us that undocumented college students frequently experience fear of deportability when encountering the media. Past research on media and deportability had only established a situational trigger (Enriquez and Millan 2021). With this study, we can see the link between their raised awareness of anti-immigrant rhetoric and the implications of immigration policy (deaths, family separation, detainment, etc.).
Yet undocumented college students practiced agency through avoidance, frequent engagement and curated news approach. The media coverage helped them understand what current immigration issues were and how they should navigate them to remain invisible. Media literature focuses on the important role it plays in developing frames and how people use it to interpret the world (Conroy 2015), as seen with undocumented college students. So as these undocumented college students are exposed to news, past research shows the power media have to shape what and how individuals think about issues (Klar, Robison, and Druckman 2013). Additionally, some undocumented college students expressed spiraling thoughts or sadness at some of the images (deaths, cages, etc.) displayed in traditional news. Bodies of literature on media have also found that certain images broadcasted to the public can evoke extreme emotional responses (Brader et al. 2008). As shown throughout my findings, the media exacerbates undocumented college students’ anxieties and fears, causing them to avoid it for their well-being. Future literature on media should begin to unpack the different ways vulnerable groups such as undocumented college students could engage with media and how it informs their emotions and responses. My findings are the first steps in exploring the agency undocumented college students exert in relation to media, whether in avoiding, choosing to engage and/or curating it.
Future work should further examine the portrayal of immigration enforcement and immigrants in the media and its consequences on undocumented immigrant communities, not just college students. By comparing older and newer immigrant generations, we can trace the challenges and approaches each have navigated. The experience of legal violence limits the everyday lives of undocumented immigrants (Menjívar and Abrego 2012), but more expansive work needs to be done to understand the role of media. As found with situational triggers, undocumented college students’ frequent thinking of their deportability came from the media. Additionally, social media was shown to be a platform undocumented college students engaged in, but does this necessarily mean it triggered them less? Further research could be aimed at breaking down the key differences in traditional and social media. Social media continues to be present in our lives, exposing individuals to an array of viewpoints, but allowing them to curate their media by choosing who they follow, what they like and what to repost. Therefore, social media is a unique space to gain information and its impact on undocumented students’ mental health should be further explored.
Additionally, mental health providers and undocumented college student services can use social media pages to deploy positive immigration content and resources. With mental health providers, they can recognize the trigger of media in students and work to provide methods that could move students away from spiraling about their status. Undocumented student services can fact-check media sources and collectively update undocumented college students on immigration news to avoid possibly stumbling across anti-immigrant sentiments in the media. Even if the news is protected by the First Amendment and the freedom of the press, it does not mean it should not be questioned about its biases. Negative stereotypes or the normalization of dehumanization practices shouldn’t continue to be distributed to the masses in either traditional or social media.
In all, undocumented college students are just one group, part of a larger collective diverse set of immigrant voices. There are countless immigrants, from older to newer generations, who engage with traditional and social media that might differ in their approach to risk management and agency. By capturing these experiences, we can begin to unpack how deportability shapes even the choices of our media use.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
This study was conducted with the support of funding from the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (grant number: MRI-19-601090) and the Russell Sage Foundation (grant number: G-2010-28446). Thank you to UC PromISE co-investigators Laura E. Enriquez, Cecilia Ayón, Jennifer Nájera, Annie Ro, and Zulema Valdez for allowing me to use their data. I also acknowledge research assistants Elisabet Barrios Mateo, Martha Morales Hernandez, Daisy Vazquez Vera, and Carmen Zambrano Torres, who collected data alongside me. I want to thank everyone who provided feedback at every stage of writing: Dr Laura E. Enriquez, Dr. Irene Vega, Dr. Carolina Valdivia, Dr. Isabela Quintana, and Dr. Barbara Pham. To my colleagues and friends, Natalia, Guillermo, Martha, and Jose, thank you for your support. Lastly, to my family, I hope this article makes you feel seen.
