ABSTRACT

The integrated sociopolitical and psychological policy model draws from critical discourse analysis, specifically from critical discourse historical analysis. Critical discourse analysis studies social discourse and discursive practices in which social problems are embedded. Contemporary American immigration policy, due to reforms enacted since the early 1990s, has sought to prevent the entrance of "illegal immigrants" into the United States, while also facilitating their deportation. Immigration reform did not become a source of social concern until the early 1990s, when the Hispanic other began to achieve a critical mass representation in the United States. Capitalism, globalization and its byproduct immigration, have raised and continue to raise complex sociopolitical and economic questions. Citizenship and immigration policy share a common inclusionary and exclusionary purpose in regards to admission and participation within the mainstream of American society.