Extinguishing Lady Liberty’s Torch? Online Public Responses to the U.S. Executive Order to Ban Immigrants from 7 Countries

ABSTRACT

In January 2017, a seven-country ban blocked immigrants from entering the U.S. When the story broke, many people posted comments on online news sites. Analysis revealed themes of rejection and acceptance. Rejection themes focused on security, demeaning Muslims, and exclusion. Acceptance themes called for inclusivity and providing a safe haven for immigrants. Comments aligned into partisan camps reflecting political branding of the sites. Analyses revealed both pro-ban and anti-ban emotionally charged comments. Hate speech was used to justify support of the ban on ultra-conservative sites. These analyses described the emotional response to admitting Muslim immigrants into the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Islamophobia
• anti-Muslim themes
• Muslim ban
• intergroup emotions theory
• hate speech

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

There was no funding for this study

Notes on contributors

Mary Bresnahan

Mary Bresnahan (Ph.D., 1985, University of Michigan) is a Beal Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. She conducts research on stigma and intergroup communication. She also studies breastfeeding attitudes and smoking prevention and cessation.

Yingying Chen

Yingying Chen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Advertising at Michigan State University where she studies social media and big data analysis.

Kevin Fedewa

Kevin Fedewa (M.A., 2009, Valparaiso University) is a Program Director in the Office of International Programs at Kettering University and an MATESOL graduate student at Michigan State University.