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Immigrants and Refugees
Vulnerable Populations or National Security Threats?
Overview
Immigrants, refugees, and foreign-born populations, in general, are often painted as outsiders and vectors of disease during times of health crises. The xenophobic references in the media and previous presidential administration to COVID-19 as the “Kung flu” or “Chinese virus” promote the assumption that all people of Chinese or generally Asian descent are both carriers of the virus and the reason for its spread. However, during the pandemic, refugees and immigrants have also been framed as some of the most vulnerable populations to both the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic and COVID-19 infection as many do not have access to the resources necessary for proper social distancing, sanitization, and personal protection.
Context
The xenophobic discourse of COVID-19 attached a nationality to the virus that becomes intrinsic to its threat. However, this cultural stigma is not a new phenomenon. All four of the epidemics that killed more than one million people in the 20th century had colloquial names that referenced a foreign group or a stigmatized minority, the Spanish flu, 1918-1920; the “Asian flu”, 1957-1958; the “Hong Kong flu “, 1968-1969; and the AIDS epidemic that was original referred to as “gay-related immune deficiency”,1980-present.
Methods
Transcripts from broadcasts, news articles, and policy documents from the UNHCR, UN Secretary-General, UN IOM, Medecins Sans Frontiers, International Rescue Committee, President Biden, President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and media outlets were analyzed to see the context with which these populations were deemed vulnerable or threatening to national security.
Research
The main actors throughout the research that characterized refugees, immigrants, and migrants as "vulnerable", "in crisis", and "in need" were the UN Secretary-General, the UNHCR, the UN International Organization for Migration, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Those that described these populations as threats to national security were the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security. However, the conflicting portrayals came from media outlets, public health organizations, and the Biden administration.
Conclusion
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Those that described the immigrants, migrants, and refugees as vulnerable were using it as a rhetorical strategy to evoke feelings of pity and compassion to garner public support and funding
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Those that chose to describe these populations as threats to American security and safety typically did so to assign blame or incite feelings of fear to amass support for government regulation
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The hypothetical line drawn between characterizing refugees, immigrants, and migrants as vulnerable subjects and security threats became a physical one: the U.S. border. These populations were in need of aid when they were located outside the United States, but once they attempted to enter our borders, they became safety and security threats.