“They Are Our Brothers”: The Migrant Caravan in the Diasporic Press

Abstract

President Donald Trump framed the migrant caravan during the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as an invasion, using it to attack the Democratic party. Trump’s attitude towards the caravan can be placed in the wider context of relationships between the U.S. and Latin American countries, reinforced by the mainstream media’s representation of Latino/Hispanic migrants as the other. However, the diasporic media frame topics in ways that represent and support the migrant’s own interests and create identities that bypass transnational borders. This research examined 55 articles about the migrant caravan published by La Hora Voz del Migrante, a Guatemalan diasporic newspaper, between Oct. 15 and Dec. 2, 2018. We found wide and sympathetic coverage of the reasons for migrating and the situations the migrants face on their way to the U.S. This coverage actively challenged Trump’s rhetoric, creating a sense of pan-ethnic solidarity between the countries of the Northern Triangle and Mexico. However, due to the level of involvement and the power of the U.S. in the region, Trump remained one of the main actors driving the conversation about the migrant caravan.