Linkages that oppress: immigration, terrorism and Latinos in presidential discourses post-9/11

In this study I argue that presidential discourses produced following the events of 9/11 have altered the way the Latino immigrant is perceived. So strong and effective are the discourses by the President of the United States, following 9/11, that exclusionist legislation has been enacted indicative of the way the government views the Latino immigrant. The purpose of this project is to examine how speeches by the President of the United States post-9/11 have linked discourses of immigration and terrorism, and influenced legislation that has led to the construction of a specific type of Latino immigrant. In order to identify the image of the Latino immigrant post-9/11, I examine how discourses of immigration and terrorism have interlinked, not as a result of causality, but because the ideas of such discourses constitute one another, shifting the identity of the Latino immigrant post-9/11. To examine this process, I examine selected speeches by President George W. Bush, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and conclude this study in reflecting on the future of the Latino immigrant in examining selected speeches by President Barack Obama