Latin American migrants as offenders and victims. Rethinking the binomial

In the chapter, the theoretical approach of Nils Christie’s term of the ideal victim is applied to the context of Latin American migration to the United States, a phenomenon that has occurred in increasing numbers since the turn of the century. In that regard, the chapter provides a background outline of Latin American migration to the US and questions whether these subjects fit Christie’s narrative. From the viewpoint of victimology, this case study becomes interesting because it questions the binary opposition between victims and offenders. The study highlights that Latin American migrants can be both perceived as ideal victims and ideal offenders, which is emphasized by multiple external actors like the former US-president Donald Trump or migration NGOs, which use different strategies to either underline the vulnerable or the deviant side of the migrants. Most importantly, the final part of the chapter focuses on the media reactions to the argument of Latin American migration, primarily concerning the situation of migrant children in detention camps at the US-border separated from their parents, and how different media outlet frame migration discourse for their own ideological purpose, finding significant differences in the portrayal of this population.