`Like an Animal I was Treated': Anti-Immigrant Metaphor in US Public Discourse

Abstract

The contemporary framing in American public discourse on immigrants is examined through a data-driven metaphor analysis. The print media texts of the 1994 political debate and campaign in California over an anti-immigrant referendum, Proposition 187, is analyzed. An ongoing cataloguing of metaphors from hundreds of Los Angeles Times articles displays the discourse that reflects and informs California public opinion. The metaphors discerned include `IMMIGRANTS ARE ANIMALS'. In so far as prose metaphors in the print media reflect public discourse, this study captures a public perception that dehumanizes immigrant workers. Additionally, alternative analyses of the framing of the discourse of Proposition 187 are compared to the present analysis.