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The Framing Of Immigration By George Lakoff And Sam Ferguson

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There are millions of undocumented immigrants that are living along side with the 300 million Americans in the United States. In the article, The Framing of Immigration, by George Lakoff and Sam Ferguson, undocumented immigrants are negatively framed or labeled as “illegals” because of their status. They believe that they should not be labeled as “illegal,” rather they claim that undocumented immigrants should be not framed as “illegal” and be treated equally just as American citizens. The undocumented are not criminals nor terrorist, they are humans and they deserve a chance. Lakoff and Ferguson also emphasize that America should not solve the immigration problem on its own. With these reasons, they use evidence such as the House of Representatives …show more content…

George W. Bush used the reform as a platform to express the issue that undocumented immigrants come to America to take away jobs and use public services illegally (18). This frames undocumented immigrants as “illegal” and are directly labeled as a criminal just like murderers and rapists (Lakoff & Ferguson, 21). The word “illegal” is not a correct term for undocumented immigrants since the word is dehumanizing (20). No immigrant should be seen lesser than a human just because they do not have documentation. Lakoff and Ferguson counter argue their position by commenting that in today's society we do not call others who break the law “illegal.” Murderers, burglars and kidnappers are not labeled as "illegal" even though they have broken the law. So why should undocumented immigrants be the only ones framed as "illegal?" Lakoff and Ferguson emphasize that undocumented immigrants that cross illegally are not committing a crime of a high degree such as murder, but instead are committing a "violation" which is less extreme …show more content…

They argue that the only way that this immigration problem can be solved is if America does not work on its own but work alongside with other countries that have high emigration rates to find solutions to stop people from leaving their homelands (Lakoff & Ferguson, 26-27). If the immigration problem can be reduced starting from the migrants home countries, there would be less people traveling to America. Lakoff and Ferguson acknowledge the idea of increasing the border security and respond by emphasizing that higher security will lead to more dangerous crossings, and people will do whatever it takes to cross, causing more casualties

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