When Migrants Become Political Pawns : Decoding the American Migrant Busing Crisis

“Sumana Chattopadhyay provides a thoughtful and passionate perspective on the busing phenomenon which treated migrants as political pawns in the highly charged debates about US immigration policy. In doing so, she creates compelling evidence about the prominence of nativism narratives in the media coverage of immigration. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how the media impacts how the audience thinks about specific conflicting issues.” – Olatunji Ogunyemi, Professor of Journalism, University of Lincoln, UK

In this book, Sumana Chattopadhyay analyzes the US migrant busing crisis of 2022 as a case study to examine ideas of nativism, identity politics, divisive rhetorics, and the red-blue-purple political divide in the context of how these divides are reflected in the media coverage of immigration issues.

Under the US migrant busing phenomenon, migrants, long weaponized as pawns in political debate and policy, were now physically moved like chess pieces to stoke divisive rhetoric about immigration before the 2022 midterm elections and to challenge then-President Joe Biden’s record. Chattopadhyay examines coverage of the busing crisis in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and local news outlets from Illinois, Florida, Texas, Utah, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. Her findings reveal differences across outlets in blue, red, and purple states and emphasize the significant ethical implications of treating people as disposable pieces of a political game.

Ultimately, Chattopadhyay foregrounds the real human beings who have borne the consequences of such political maneuvering to explore the effects of this media coverage on both national and local levels and to illuminate the forces and long-term implications at play in this dynamic.