Thus, even though these numbers turned out to be exaggerated, the authority of their source—the INS—meant that they entered public discourse as a symbol of alarm.29For example, the December 1974 cover of the American Legion Magazinedepicted the United States being overrun by “illegal aliens” (Figure 1.1). Most of the cartoon people in the image are Mexicans storming, en masse, across the U.S.-Mexico border, breaking down a sign that reads “usa border” and another one reading “keep out.” Other immigrants are landing by boats along theEast Coast, flying in and swimming from the Caribbean, parachuting acrossthe Canadian border, and all of them are converging upon, and inundat-ing, the nation’s institutions, most notably welfare, education, housing, jobs, and medical care. Such images were to become more frequent in the nation’s magazines over the next three decades, contributing to an increasingly alarmist d