The American immigration myth: the construction and reconstruction of educational possibilities

This article examines the ‘American immigration myth’, the belief that hard work and individual effort are sufficient for success, by analyzing how deficit thinking and market-driven reforms shape the schooling of immigrant and minoritized students. Drawing on critical social theory, it explores how wealth, power, nationalism, and standardized assessment can intersect to construct immigrants as deficient Others while masking structural barriers rooted in economics, race, and language. Using a critical narrative review design, qualitative thematic synthesis, critical policy/discourse analysis, and practitioner reflexivity in a New Mexico educational context, the article traces how immigration policy, high-stakes testing, and accountability systems reconceive inequality and normalize subtractive assimilation. I argue for a liberatory educational project that recognizes students’ epistemic diversity and advances a democratic vision of schooling grounded in equity and belonging. Two questions guide the analysis: How is the immigration myth constructed and reproduced in policy discourse, and what alternative educational visions challenge deficit thinking while opening liberatory possibilities for all students?