This dissertation describes the way that the Immigrant Threat Narrative occurs in the media. Through an analysis of 44,897 online media messages that occurred between August 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015 this study finds that people are more supportive of the idea of immigration than they are of immigrants themselves. Additionally, the study finds that depicting immigrants as “workers” rather than in a general sense increases the negative classification of immigrants. These findings support the idea that the Immigrant Threat Narrative is an attempt to socially reposition foreign-born individuals as “geographic others” who limit access to scarce resources rather than constituting an attack on the broader concept of immigration per se. Finally, this study finds that dominant groups in society play a large role in setting the agenda relative to the Immigrant Threat Narrative in the media. Specifically, results suggest that social media provides a new forum for the masses to voice their opinion, but that they do so by echoing ideas put forward by more powerful forces rather than by creating new arguments about immigration.
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