The political discourse on Latin American immigrants in the United States: A comparison of presidential speeches of Obama and Trump

Maria Alejandra Recalde

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The United States hosts 60.6 million of Latin American immigrants according to the 2019 census. Even though only 23% of the immigrants are undocumented, the political discourse in the US on immigrants is heated. There has been a change in this political discourse in the last few years. This research thesis analyses this change in the political discourse by president Obama in his second administration (2012-2016) to president Trump (2016-2020). The research question is ‘How did the political discourse towards Latin American immigrants in the United States change from the second Obama administration to the Trump administration?’ The research is done by analysing the presidential speeches using Speech Act Theory and identifying locutions or speech acts regarding (Latin American) immigration. Subsequently, these speech acts are categorized into illocutionary acts with an expected perlocutionary effect on the basis of Austin's Speech act theory and Searle's classifications of 'illocutionary acts'. Findings show differences and change in the discourse from Obama to Trump with regard to unauthorized, Latin American immigrants. The results of the thesis regarding illocutions show that both presidents mostly use assertive speech acts. Trump has even more assertive speech acts than Obama. However, Obama has more expressive and commissive speech acts than Trump. On the other hand, Trump has more declarative speech acts. Further results show that President Trump’s discourse towards immigrants is less welcoming than Obama’s discourse which is reflected in different public views on immigration, divided along partisan lines. However, both presidents emphasize the importance of the law and that in general, unauthorized immigrants cannot stay. On the other hand, Obama did seek to create opportunities to legalize immigrants and deport unauthorized immigrants with a criminal record. On the other hand, Trump focused on enforcing law and border control, in order to deport most immigrants, and deny entry to people in the borders.

Abstract:

The United States hosts 60.6 million of Latin American immigrants according to the 2019 census. Even though only 23% of the immigrants are undocumented, the political discourse in the US on immigrants is heated. There has been a change in this political discourse in the last few years. This research thesis analyses this change in the political discourse by president Obama in his second administration (2012-2016) to president Trump (2016-2020). The research question is ‘How did the political discourse towards Latin American immigrants in the United States change from the second Obama administration to the Trump administration?’ The research is done by analysing the presidential speeches using Speech Act Theory and identifying locutions or speech acts regarding (Latin American) immigration. Subsequently, these speech acts are categorized into illocutionary acts with an expected perlocutionary effect on the basis of Austin's Speech act theory and Searle's classifications of 'illocutionary acts'. Findings show differences and change in the discourse from Obama to Trump with regard to unauthorized, Latin American immigrants. The results of the thesis regarding illocutions show that both presidents mostly use assertive speech acts. Trump has even more assertive speech acts than Obama. However, Obama has more expressive and commissive speech acts than Trump. On the other hand, Trump has more declarative speech acts. Further results show that President Trump’s discourse towards immigrants is less welcoming than Obama’s discourse which is reflected in different public views on immigration, divided along partisan lines. However, both presidents emphasize the importance of the law and that in general, unauthorized immigrants cannot stay. On the other hand, Obama did seek to create opportunities to legalize immigrants and deport unauthorized immigrants with a criminal record. On the other hand, Trump focused on enforcing law and border control, in order to deport most immigrants, and deny entry to people in the borders.

Keywords

Latin America, immigrants, immigration, Speech Act Theory, speech act, speeches, political dis-course, unauthorized immigrants, Obama, Trump.

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 13. 12. 2021

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 10. 1. 2022
• Supervisor: Mgr. Hubert Smekal, Ph.D.
• Reader: Mgr. Martin Chovančík, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Bachelor programme / field:
International Relations and European Politics / International Relations and European Politics