U.S. Immigration discourse in YouTube comments: Position, immigrant characterization, and civility

Immigration has been a hotly debated issue in the U.S. since President Donald J. Trump’s second term began in January 2025. Despite persistent global news media coverage, social media discourse on immigration remains under-researched. This study examines how immigration was discussed in comment threads on the social media platform YouTube during February 2025, the first full month of President Trump’s second term. Comments from the eight most-viewed U.S.-based videos identified through the #immigrationraids search were collected, and 2,303 comments and replies were selected using a fixed-interval procedure and manually coded. Guided by public sphere theory, this study assessed online public communication by examining immigration position, labeling and characterization of immigrants, and civility. Although most comments did not articulate a clear position on immigration, anti-immigrant positions overwhelmingly dominated among comments that mentioned immigration or immigrants. Anti-immigrant comments were more often directed at all immigrants rather than only undocumented immigrants. Labeling and characterization portrayed immigrants as illegal, criminal, and dangerous, alongside calls for removal and additional patterns of demeaning, sexualized, and nationality-based portrayals. Although most comments were civil, uncivil comments included personal attacks, and immigrants were the most frequent targets.