‘Build That Wall!’: manufacturing the enemy, yet again

Abstract

The 2016 presidential campaign and the election of Donald Trump has amplified divisive anti-immigrant sentiment and has further positioned ‘Mexicans as enemy.’ Trump’s ‘Build That Wall!’ declarative has stoked nativist ire through manufactured narratives that rarely, if ever, consider the United States government’s role in the increase of undocumented immigrants residing in our country. In this essay, the author connects the current administration’s anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican proposals to historical legislation that, cloaked under the guise of ‘national security’ or a return to ‘American values,’ has aimed to maintain White hegemony. Additionally, the author examines anti-Mexican narratives that aim to criminalize Mexican immigrants’ behaviors to justify imperialistic and unjust policies that further serve dominant-White political elites and their constituents.