Ambar Hernandez Negrete | Documenting and Uplifting Immigrant Lived Narratives through a Strength-Based Perspective

Under the current Trump Administration, anti-immigration attitudes and racial tension have increasingly become more explicit in the United States (US). In light of this anti-immigration rhetoric, this study focused on collecting counter-narratives that humanize the immigrant experience through an anonymous online survey. In collecting counter-narratives from over 330 immigrants across the US, the findings reveal the far-reaching ramifications of this dominating anti-immigrant rhetoric on the lives of immigrants living in the US today. By drawing on a racist nativism framework, this study underscores how the contemporary anti-immigrant discourses under the Trump administration create ideological and material differences between immigrants and nonimmigrants that serve to justify the ongoing oppression of immigrant communities in the US (Perez Huber, Benavides Lopez, Malagon, Velez, & Solorzano, 2008). Employing a qualitative thematic analytical (Merton, 1975) approach, our findings reveal that immigrants experience challenges related to 1) the anti-immigration climate, 2) experiences with racism, and 3) fear of deportation. Further, a psychological strength-based centered analyses (Flores, 2013; Falicov, 2013) unveiled the coping strategies and support systems immigrant communities cultivate to overcome the previous challenges, which deficit constructions of immigrants’ neglect.