The American Dreamers: The Effects of Media Coverage of Immigrants’ Age-at-Arrival

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231185151
• Author: Guadalupe Madrigal
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Political Research Quarterly

2023, Vol. 76(4) 1920–1931

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/10659129231185151

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The American Dreamers: The Effects of

Media Coverage of Immigrants’Age-at-

Arrival

Guadalupe Madrigal

1

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Abstract

The Dreamers have become a driving force of policy and politics in the last two decades. Public opinion polls suggest that

most Americans hold favorable attitudes towards Dreamers—more favorable than their attitudes about immigrants

more broadly. This study suggests that age-at-arrival is a signif‌icant driving characteristic of this support. In 2019, I ran a 2-

wave survey experiment in which respondents read a news story about an undocumented immigrant that either migrated

at eleven or 21 years old. Respondents in the lower age-at-arrival condition reported more support for the immigrant;

and this effect was most pronounced among those who were more opposed to immigration in general. A second 2-wave

survey conducted in 2021 explored two possible mechanisms behind the impact of age-at-arrival: attitudes towards (a)

assimilation and (b) attribution of responsibility. Results are considered as they relate to ongoing debates about

Dreamers, media coverage, and attitudes about immigration.

Keywords

media effects, political communication, DREAMers, immigration, age-at-arrival

“Today,there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling

in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the

children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do

with the actions of their parents…”

- President Barack Obama 2011 State of the Union Address

In 2001, the Development, Relief, and Education for

Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (Senate Bill 1291) was

introduced as a bipartisan bill that would provide un-

documented youth in the United States a path toward

citizenship. This legislation was the origin of the

“Dreamers,”the targeted recipients of the policy, and the

subject of Obama’s State of the Union comment above.

No version of the DREAM Act has passed on a national

level. However, the Dreamers, as a political group, have

become a driving force of immigration policy and politics

over the past two decades.

The ongoing debates about DREAM Act policies

began with Plyler v. Doe (1982), a federal ruling granting

undocumented children the right to attend public school

regardless of their immigration status. What happens to

undocumented youth who, after public school education,

want to attend college, join the military, or work legally?

This has been a highly debated question in immigration

policy for many years. Political leaders have, however,

been divided in their support, both for the original

DREAM Act and the Obama administration’s Deferred

Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program (which

provides temporary work permits, opportunities in college

or the military, and protections from deportation, osten-

sibly until a national DREAM Act is passed).

Republican 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney

equated the Obama legislation with amnesty for all un-

documented immigrants, arguing that legalizing Dreamers

would be a “magnet”luring even more “illegal”immi-

grants to the United States. “I think we have to follow the

law and insist those who come illegally, ultimately return

home, apply and get in line with everyone else”(Romney

2012). The Trump administration then attempted to end

DACA; although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of

Dreamers in 2020.

1

Department of Communication, University of Missouri, Columbia,MO,

USA

Corresponding Author:

Guadalupe Madrigal, Department of Communication, University of

Missouri, 108 Switzler Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

Email: g.madrigal@missouri.edu