UC Merced

Immigration policies and policy-related factors create distrust among Latinos and immigrants. News coverage of exclusionary immigration policies may be a policy-related factor that also shapes distrust. There is evidence news coverage of immigration policies does not always reflect the policies within a state. In this paper, we used data from a qualitative content analysis of newspapers in 15 U.S. states (2010-2013, 2017-2019) and a state policy-index of immigrant policies to assess the relationship between inclusive and exclusive news coverage of immigration policies and high distrust on health information from a multiethnic sample. We find news coverage of both inclusive and exclusive immigration policies were associated with high distrust in health information. We suggest inclusionary immigration policies are not as protective to Latino and immigrant health as perceived. Immigration as a news topic may also have a role in shaping distrust and health that is independent of immigration policy.