Chapter 12: The Implications of News Media Discourse About Immigrants and Immigration Policy for School–Family Engagement

In my 14-plus years working in various capacities in schools across the United States, I have come across well-meaning educators and leaders who aim to explicitly support immigrant students and families, and yet they use language that others and dehumanizes.¹Van Dijk (2004) referred to othering as the “discriminatory ways that dominant group members verbally interact with members of dominated groups: ethnic minorities, immigrants, refugees, etc.” (p. 351). In those moments, at times in a vulnerable role, I have pointed out that there are alternative ways to talk about “undocumented” immigrants that serve to humanize them and to demonstrate that one is an ally. The response was usually surprise and sometimes appreciation. As a faculty member, I have hosted panels of undocumented student and parent leaders for my courses, and each time the panelists have mentioned that they can discern if an educator is an ally by the labels they use for immigrants.