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Running Head: The Formation of a Global Community Online: #DACA

The Formation of a Global Community Online: #DACA

Jenna Priscilla Joswick

COM638

Queens University of Charlotte


Imagine being one of the 17 million people who participated in the ALS Ice Bucket

Challenge globally in 2014. Per Hamelink, “local initiatives provide people with the opportunity

to address this responsibility and increase people’s contribution to political life” (Hamelink, p.

179). The ALS challenge did just that – raising more than $115 million in an 8-week period.

This challenge made a global impact due to the visibility of the selected, strategic social media

platform, Facebook, as well as the connections that users in the U.S. have to others around the

world. Participating in this not only created awareness, but it created a community of people

who got involved in supporting the ALS Association in a creative way.

Now, imagine you came to the United States as a child and are now one of the 700,000

people who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) bill and are facing

possible deportation. Former president Obama signed an executive order for DACA in 2012 that

gave certain protections to children who were brought to the United States as minors (Vogue,

2018).

DACA and the DREAM Act, which stands for "Development, Relief, and

Education for Alien Minors," are similar in their aim to offer protection from deportation

to people brought to the United States illegally by their parents as children, but DACA

was an executive action by the president and the DREAM Act is a congressional

measure. (CBS News, 2018)

Linking all the latest news on the proposed DREAM Act that will replace DACA has created

dialogue around the world. Per Hamelick (2015), “If an Information Society means that all

included people get more information, but if that information consists mainly of commercial

messages and disinformation, propaganda or hate speech, could some people say they would

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rather be excluded” (p. 149)? Although it is key for people to be informed, it is equally

important to digest news from reliable, unbiased sources. This topic is hard to avoid, as there has

been controversy around what will happen to all the DACA recipients and people from around

the world are connecting online to further the conversation. Given that the majority of DACA

recipients hail from Mexico – more than 79 percent – it was interesting to see all the tweets in

support of DACA from around the world, but I will discuss that in further detail later on in the

methodology section. (CBS NEWS, 2018)

Literature Review

The scholarly journals and articles, along with news stories and personal, firsthand

experiences from DACA recipients were mainly sourced through my data set – twitter. Each

article, news story or personal encounter are tied to the #DACA hashtag, while falling into one of

the following themes: Immigration, Trump Support, DACA/DREAMER Support or Personal

Stories and Perspectives. I have organized my literature review by grouping my sources by

theme.

Immigration

Articles reviewed by D'Andrade (1995), Gomez (2018a) and Gomez (2018b) have

a central focus around immigration and the call for Democrats and Republicans to work together

to create a permanent solution for DACA recipients, now called Dreamers. According to Gomez

(2018a), “There’s a good case to make that they really are Americans in everything but

paperwork…they’ve socialized here, they’ve studied George Washington as the father of our

country and Abraham Lincoln as the president who freed the slaves. They’re already

acculturated.” Despite political party affiliation, individuals have spoken out to the media with

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comments like the above, as DACA was started to protect children and their fate rests in the

hands of a government that is so divided on this issue. Per Gomez (2018b),

“The White House would limit the U.S. citizen sponsorship to spouses and minor

children allowed to enter the U.S., eliminating the long-standing practice of sponsoring

extended families –parents, adult children, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and

grandchildren. That would cut about 260,000 visas a year, according to an analysis of

Department of Homeland Security data.”

Trump Support

The articles by Fram (2018) and O’Keefe & Nakamura (2018) explore support for

President Trump’s immigration policy, more specifically what is now being called the Bill of

Love, which was one of the trending hashtags (#BILLOFLOVE) in my data set. A highlight

from this article was a quote from President Trump as he turned deliberations over to the group

of lawmakers, “put country before party” and strike a deal (O’Keefe & Nahamura 2018).

In the article titled, Senate to debate immigration, but Trump is the question mark, the point was

made that there is still not a bipartisan bill on the table and Trump is now reaching out to a group

of Democrats and Republicans to work out a two-step plan. “In January, Trump invited two

dozen lawmakers from both parties to the White House in what became a nearly hour-long

immigration negotiating session. He asked them to craft a "bill of love" and said he'd sign a

solution they'd send him” (Fram, 2018).

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DACA/DREAMER Support

The articles by Torbati (2018) and Vogue (2018) had numerous quotes from government

officials and representatives who spoke to the media in support of a solution for the people who

are in the U.S. because of DACA. There was also notable judiciary support around the country

after the San Francisco judge’s ruling earlier in January present in both articles.

“The DACA programme has provided protection from deportation and the right to work

legally to nearly 800,000 young people since it was authorised by President Barack Obama in

2012. Several states, organisations and individuals have filed lawsuits seeking to protect DACA

recipients, who are known as Dreamers” (Torbati, 2018).

A quote that stood out in the articles I read was by former President Obama, "They are

Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper," (The White

House, 2012). This was an important remark to consider, as the children who came to the United

States were brought in as minors by their parents and had no say in the matter. They did,

however, have the opportunity to grow up and are examples of the American dream. On the topic

of DACA/DREAMER support, there were mentions in a few articles of company support for its

employees, as well as quite a few number of tweets within my data set.

Johnson & Johnson had joined the Coalition for the American Dream, a group of more

than 60 companies, including IBM, Facebook and Amazon, that is seeking protections for

Dreamers and pushing for a bipartisan solution on DACA. "We must continue to advance

our culture of belonging, where open hearts and minds combine to unleash the potential

of the brilliant mix of people, in every corner of the world” (Kavilanz, 2018).

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http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/dreamers

http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/BarackObama


Moving on to live support rather than online, social media support. In a lecture at Boston

University last year, Dr. Munoz, who was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States as

a child, shared her story and wanted to speak on this topic to demonstrate how the university

wants to create a community of support for its DACA students. (Randall, 2017). This

community of support differs from that that is being analyzed in this paper, but I thought it was

important to note that there is momentum building around university-level support for DACA

students, just as there is support from the company/employer level.

Personal Stories and Perspectives

This theme was the most difficult to review, as I not only read through numerous

firsthand experiences from people who are in the U.S. because of DACA, but also because my

boyfriend is here because of DACA. I cannot imagine the constant worry and unsettling feeling

of, ‘what will tomorrow bring?’ with the constant back and forth with lawmakers. Despite the

majority of DACA recipients being from Mexico, I came across the South Asian Americans

Leading Together site, which is dedicated to gender, racial and civic justice for South Asian

Americans.

“I have realized through my work on behalf of immigrant rights that the divisiveness

within our cultures and communities and the stereotypes we have against one another

only operate against us in the long run. We need to learn to trust each other, work

together, and support one another because the issues for which we are fighting affect us

all. We all deserve to live with dignity and respect, regardless of our immigration status”

(DACA Stories, (n.d.)).

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I also wanted to review my findings after the review of a collection of stories that the

New York Times published online,

“DACA means everything to me…DACA has become a reassuring force to many students like

myself who’s only desire is to be given an education in order to become a successful factor of

this society. I am proud to be Mexican but I’m also proud to be part of America’s great

educational system. DACA has given me the opportunity to dream of my own white picket fence

one day” (American Dreamers, 2017).

The following research questions will be answered through a grounded theory analysis:

1. How does an online community form to show interest or support for a specific cause, like

the recent changes to DACA?

2. What themes emerge from a content analysis of the #DACA hashtags on twitter?

3. What do these themes suggest about the broader practice utilizing social media for local

and global strategic communication?

Methodology

D'Andrade notes that "perhaps the simplest and most direct indication of schematic

organization in naturalistic discourse is the repetition of associative linkages" (1991:294). As I

began to code my data set and find similarities in the content, I was able to make connections

and begin to put tweets into categories (themes) and subcategories. As the idea of an online

community presence on twitter in support of DACA began to form, I could clearly see the main

themes in my data set. Per D'Andrade (1991), "indeed, anyone who has listened to long stretches

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of talk, whether generated by a friend, spouse, workmate, informant, or patient, knows how

frequently people circle through the same network of ideas" (1991:287). This was evident

throughout my data set, as people around the world were connecting through a social platform to

network about DACA.

Data Set

My data set is the #DACA hashtag on Twitter in a specific time range after a national news story

broke. U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, must remain in place while litigation challenging President

Trump’s decision to revise the DACA program continues (Torbati, 2018). My data set could be

replicated by anyone with an active Twitter account who can use the advanced search tool on the

left side of the webpage. The filters I used for my advanced search on twitter are as follows:

These Hashtags: #DACA

Language: English

Date range: January 9, 2018 (twitter)

I chose this specific date for my data set because on January 9, 2018, the San Francisco judge’s

DACA ruling lead to more than 300 tweets using the #DACA hashtag on Twitter. I completed

my analysis and coding using the 150 most recent tweets with the #DACA hashtag from January

9, 2018. Since twitter has limitations on communications that users can share per tweet, like

character count, it makes it challenging for users to always share their full stories or thoughts,

which is why links to articles, pictures, graphs, etc. are common in my data set.

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Procedure

Once I identified my data set for this project, I needed to begin to organize my data. Per

Charmaz (2006), “The stages of initial coding include defining the data studied, determining

what the data suggest, identifying from whose point of view the data is presented and selecting

the theoretical category the datum indicated. My data set is a series of tweets from individuals,

news stations and companies. “During initial coding we study fragments of data - words, lines,

segments, and incidents – closely for their analytic import” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 42). One of the

important steps in this process was memo writing. I jotted down as many memos as I felt

necessary in order to put the tweets in the right categories and subcategories, as well as making a

list of the leftovers that did not fit into a theme. My list of leftovers is as follows:

Illiteracy of DACA children

Democrats using DACA/DREAMER bill for voter support

Immigration raids – not related to DACA

DACA relation to Democratic votes in future elections

Fire and Fury – book about Trump that was recently released

Hiring requirements for border control officers

Officials who have resigned from the Trump administration

While some of the above could fit into one of the above themes, I wanted to keep my themes

clear and concise, so the above “leftovers” list will not be further analyzed. Per Charmaz (2006),

“Your memos will form the core of your grounded theory” (p. 94). As I wrote memos, I color

coded important key words in context to make connections to the content of the tweets, as well

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as identify any missing information, so that I could go back to my data or pull resources from

articles and journals if need be. Through this, I identified 4 main themes that had subcategories,

as well as the “leftovers” list that was thrown out for the sake of a focused grounded theory

analysis.

I selected the themes that have the most global presence around my topic – DACA

children. To connect the dots and find relation of items in categories, I pulled support from

national news sources and scholarly articles, as well. “Relate categories to subcategories. Axial

coding specifies the properties and dimensions of a category” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 60).

In the last step, exploration of saturation, I looked at all of the data – more specifically

the themes present – to see which themes were the most prominent on twitter and which would

be further examined through a grounded theory analysis. To ensure that I had reached saturation

in my data set, I asked the following questions:

“Which comparisons do you make between data within and between categories?”

“What sense do you make of these comparisons?”

“Where do they lead you?”

“How do your comparisons illuminate your theoretical categories?”

“In what other directions, if any, do they take you?”

“What new conceptual relationships, if any, might you see?”

(Charmaz (2016, p. 113 - 114)

Results

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The defined data set allowed me to perform initial coding, axial coding and selective

coding to find reoccurring themes in the data. The common themes in the data set are as follows:

Immigration, Trump Support, DACA/DREAMER Support and Personal Stories/Perspectives.

Each theme had content that would create subcategories, but I was able to tie the subcategories to

a larger, centralized theme through commonalities, like hashtags on twitter. Through memo

writing and digging deeper into the tweets, and more specifically the hashtags, that were a part of

my data set, I was able to reference quotes from politicians, organizations and DACA recipients

to show how an online community forms to show interest or support for a specific cause, like

DACA or the new, updated Dreamer bill. The themes that I identified from twitter demonstrate

the ease of people to form a global community and stand together on hot button issues, like

DACA.

Immigration

This theme was found in my data set, as there were many posts on Twitter surrounding

the update to the former DACA immigration bill. The broad types of data that I pulled were

found through the below key-words-in-contexts in tweets.

Key-words-in-contexts (KWIC) – immigration, anti-immigration, protect(ion), citizenship deal

This theme has information on DACA recipients’ immigration status and the opposition’s

perspective against DACA and allowing the 800,000 people to stay in the U.S. either on a

visa/permit or through applying for citizenship. Subcategories present in this theme are as

follows: anti-immigration, immigration reform and immigration deals between political parties.

Identifying the subcategories allowed me to sift through the tweets and find connections, despite

the differing opinion on immigration.

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Trump Support

This theme is focused primarily around Republican support for Trump ending DACA, as

well as recent bipartisan agreements between Dems/Rep to create a temporary solution until a

final decision can be reached and a DACA replacement bill can be voted on and introduced. The

broad types of data that I pulled were found through the below key-words-in-contexts in tweets.

This theme was defined, as the tweets included both the #DACA hashtag and one or more of the

following #BILLOFLOVE, #TRUMPWALL and #MAGA. Although the Trump support theme

has a Republican focus, bipartisan opinion is present when getting into the #BILLOFLOVE

recent tweets and news stories. From my readings and tweets, there is evidence of how both

political parties are working together for an update to DACA – in support of the Dreamers.

Key-words-in-contexts (KWIC) - #BILLOFLOVE/temporary amnesty/bipartisan

DACA/DREAMER Support

This theme is a compilation of Democrat, industry, and media support for a solution to the

end of the DACA program with tweets and news stories from around the world. The broad types

of data that I pulled were found through the below key-words-in-contexts in tweets. There were

tweets from individual government officials and representatives who spoke to the media in

support of a solution for the people who are here because of DACA. There were also tweets

about the San Francisco judge’s decision to overrule Trump until there is new legislature in

place. These tweets and news stories are separate from the below theme, as I wanted to include a

separate section of tweets from DACA recipients.

Key-words-in-contexts (KWIC) #DREAMERS and #DACA hashtag

Personal Stories and Perspectives

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Personal tweets and stories focused on news updates and why they are part of the

“American Dream.” The broad types of data that I pulled were found through the below key-

words-in-contexts in tweets. This theme puts faces and names to the 800,000 people who are in

the U.S. because of DACA and are sharing their stories and perspectives on what it means to be a

“dreamer.” This ties into the global community that has formed in support of the people who

were brought to the U.S. as children and have been making a life in the U.S.

Key-words-in-contexts (KWIC) - #IAMDACA #DREAMERS

Questions for Future Research

Will the same subcategories be found if another social media platform is used for the data

set? If so, what can the connection tell us?

How might the themes and main discussion points change if this project would have used

another social media platform, like Facebook for the data set?

Although twitter allows people to interact with one another, does Facebook or other

social media platforms encourage further discussion on the topics posted? For example,

are people more social on Facebook, since they aren’t limited by character count like they

are on twitter?

Conclusion

The themes present in my data set, Immigration, Trump Support, DACA/DREAMER

Support and Personal Stories and Perspectives, showed how an online community forms to show

support or opposition for DACA, as well as how DACA recipients, who may have had no say in

the decision to come to America, shared their experiences. Per Mihadalis (2013) "…An

emerging participatory culture has created opportunities for communities to engage in

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collaborative dialog inquiry around shared initiatives, interests and pursuits." The DACA

community on twitter was evident in my grounded theory analysis of the data set. This is both

an interesting and important topic area, given, that many people digest their news through

various social media platforms and can engage in a participatory culture to share thoughts, ideas

and support with like-minded individuals worldwide.

The interaction with the #DACA hashtag and high volume of tweets on the day that the

news story broke about the judge in San Francisco demonstrate how a local story can garner

global media attention. Twitter community support for DREAMERS is as active as ever, as the

government is supposed to have an update by March 5; a deadline quickly approaching with

much speculation on how this will after the 800,000 people currently in the United States.“My

story is one of hundreds of thousands of DACA stories across the United States. We all have

different backgrounds, first and last names, interests, journeys, and goals; however, we all have

at least one thing in common: we are all American Dreamers” (NY Times, 2018)

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References

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Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage Publications

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D'Andrade, Roy. (1995). The development of cognitive anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Hamelink, C. (2015). Global communication. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

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Mihailidis, P. (2013). Exploring global perspectives on identity, community and media literacy in a networked age. Journal of Digital and Media Literacy, (1).

O'Keefe, E., & Nakamura, D. (2018). Trump offers to 'take all the heat' on imigration, but also appears to contradict himself. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-professes-desire-to-protect-dreamers--but-fate-of-deal-remains-uncertain/2018/01/09/

Pope, N. G. (2016). The Effects of DACAmentation: The Impact of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on Unauthorized Immigrants. Journal of Public Economics,98-114. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from http://home.uchicago.edu/~npope/daca_paper.pdf

Randall, L. (2017). Creating Communities of Support for DACA, Undocumented, and Immigrant Children & Students[Scholarly project]. In Boston University. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from Creating Communities of Support for DACA, Undocumented, and Immigrant Children & Students

Remarks by the President on Immigration. (2012, June 15). Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/06/15/remarks-president-immigration

Torbati, D. L. (2018). DACA: Donald Trump's move to end Obama-era programme to protect young immigrants blocked by judge. Retrieved February 12, 2018, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-daca-dreamers-programme-scrapping-blocked-judge-young-immigrants-barack-obama-a8150761.html

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Vogue, A. D., Berman, D., & Park, M. (2018). Judge blocks plan to roll back DACA. Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/09/politics/california-judge-daca-applications/index.html

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hrtoheart.files.wordpress.com · Web viewNow, imagine you came to the United States as a child and are now one of the 700,000 people who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood