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The ‘Immigrant Problem’

Modern-Day Nativism on the Web

College of William and Mary

This article examines present attempts to construct immigration as a social problem by studying the language and rhetoric of restrictionist groups on the World Wide Web in the aftermath of 9/11. The analysis of these websites reveals a variety of discourses that both describe and evaluate the consequences of recent immigration. The reasons against immigration currently being put forth include: defending the environment, enhancing national security and protecting jobs for native-born Americans. While the case can be made that these arguments are not based on hostility toward any specific group defined in terms of its racial, ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics, a case that typically is asserted by restrictionist groups themselves, my analysis reveals the existence of an alternative discourse defining those unworthy of participation in American society. My research also reveals that the most overtly nativist groups have the greatest number of web-links to other restrictionist groups, suggesting an attempt to appropriate multiple sources of restrictionist discourse to bolster and legitimize their own positions.

Key Words: immigration • Internet • nativism • restriction

Current Sociology, Vol. 54, No. 6, 827-850 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0011392106068453


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