Immigration

Immigration policy is locked in an us-vs-them debate. To achieve deep reform, we need a more open, inclusive, and justice-focused conversation.

The dangers of anti-immigrant rhetoric are more apparent than ever.

Narrative change and mindset shift work can change the thinking that drives the national conversation. A set of national studies has yielded:

A map of the assumptions that Americans draw on to think about immigrants and the role of immigration in society.
The key shifts in language that make messages more persuasive to more people.
A set of explanatory techniques that get people to pause, reflect, and think differently about immigration.

Explore how to change the conversation about immigration.

Featured Work

Report

Valuing Immigration: How Frame Elements Contribute to Effective Communications

Communications about policy reforms that remind the public that beneficiaries of reform are likely to be ethnic minorities fail to elevate policy support.

Toolkit

Building Public Understandings of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Welcome to Building Public Understanding of Comprehensive Immigration Reform—a collection of framing research, recommendations, and sample communications.

External article

Highlighting Shared Humanity and Prosperity to Advance Immigration Solutions

To build support for progressive immigration reform in the United States, advocates must turn away from “us versus them” framing, and toward language that emphasizes shared humanity,...

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Report

Integrating Issues: Framing for Racial Equity and Children in Immigrant Families

This report distills the communications challenges facing advocates for progressive immigration policies and outlines framing strategies to address them.

Report

Framing the Refugee Resettlement: A Strategic Communications Brief

This strategic brief further explains the principles and recommendations found in this toolkit. Print and distribute it to advocates and communicators in the field to deepen their understanding of...

Toolkit

Building Public Understandings of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Welcome to Building Public Understanding of Comprehensive Immigration Reform—a collection of framing research, recommendations, and sample communications.

Toolkit

How to Reframe Refugee Resettlement

This toolkit offers a set of framing recommendations for the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MNDHS) to use in developing a messaging strategy to build public support and understanding for...

Report

Finish the Story on Immigration

This Multimedia MessageMemo summarizes the findings from a comprehensive multi-method investigation of how Americans view the immigration system and recommends specific reframing tools that...

Report

Don’t Always Stay on Message: Using Strategic Framing to Move the Public Discourse On Immigration (Executive Summary)

This is the executive summary of an unusually large-scale experimental survey of 8000 Americans which weighs the effects of pro-immigration values on immigration attitudes and policies by testing...

Report

Talkin’‘Bout My Generation: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Demographic Change in the U.S.

This report compares expert views with those of average Americans, revealing many of the cultural models that dominate thinking about demographic change.

Report

Getting to “We”: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Immigration and Immigration Reform

This report lays the groundwork for a larger effort to reframe the public debate on immigration and immigration reform.

Report

Stories Matter: Field Frame Analysis on Immigration Reform

This Field Frame Analysis maps the competing narratives used by influential organizations to frame the debate on immigration and immigration reform.

Report

Valuing Immigration: How Frame Elements Contribute to Effective Communications

Communications about policy reforms that remind the public that beneficiaries of reform are likely to be ethnic minorities fail to elevate policy support.

Report

Priming More Productive Views of Government: Survey Experiment Results

Negative views of government are no surprise. But the effects of different frames might be.