Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?

López conceived an early version of her iconic poster "Who’s the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?" while working on a local campaign in response to President Jimmy Carter’s Immigration Plan. The Aztec warrior’s stance recalls that of Uncle Sam in James Montgomery Flagg’s “I Want You” army recruitment posters, pointing a finger at the viewer and ordering young men to enlist. In mimicking Flagg’s iconic image, López gives her poster a subversive authority. Her question directed at “pilgrims” interrogates who can identify others as “illegal aliens,” especially since "Mayflower" settlers from Europe arrived in the Americas without “papers.”