Securitização da imigração e populismo na Era Trump (2017-2021) : uma análise discursiva da representação do imigrante Latino-Americano como ameaça

Abstract

During Donald Trump's first administration (2017–2021), U.S. policy was characterized by populist rhetoric that framed immigration as a threat to the security and internal order of the United States. In this context, this research aims to analyze how crisis narratives were mobilized to justify the securitization of migration in the United States, focusing on the symbolic construction of the Latin American migrant as an internal enemy. The study articulates the Copenhagen School's Securitization Theory, its critical reformulations, and studies on populism as a discursive strategy to understand how crisis narratives attempt to legitimize coercive migration policies. The research adopts a qualitative and documentary approach, anchored in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), based on Van Dijk's Ideological Square Model. It centers on the examination of official speeches and the investigation of policies implemented between the beginning and the end of the Trump administration (2017–2021). Within this scope, the southern border wall emerges as a central element of a discursive and practical strategy aimed at the securitization of immigration and the construction of the Latin American migrant as a threat to national security.