Study Reveals Shortcomings and Opportunities in U.S. Immigration Coverage

Published over the course of four years, Migratory Notes was a newsletter that tracked shifting immigration news and policy developments. When the newsletter ceased publication in 2020, the co-founders of the newsletter worked with an independent researcher to produce a report analyzing more than 4,500 stories selected for inclusion in the newsletter from January 2017 to August 2020. One key finding was that there was a preponderance of reporting on detention, enforcement, border issues, and asylum. Although these themes were related to the policy priorities of the Trump administration, the authors see a continuation of an historical trend to focus on criminality and exclusion in immigration coverage. The authors also see a geographic imbalance in reporting, with states like Arizona and Texas tending to dominate news coverage to the neglect of developments elsewhere in the country. The authors conclude with a number of recommendations, including enlisting the help of foreign language media to probe developments in local immigrant communities and focusing greater attention on the role of immigrants in the economy, and the process of their integration into American society.

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