How the Media Distorts the Public Debate on Irregular Migration in the UK

Britain’s public debate on irregular or ‘illegal’ migration is dominated by small boat crossings — even though they count for a minority of arrivals, according to new analysis of media coverage by academics.

A study from University of Birmingham academics, ‘The Narrative Construction of Migrant Irregularity in the United Kingdom’, provides a “comprehensive analysis” of how influential parts of politics influence public discourse on migration — and in turn shape policies that impact migrants’ rights and experiences.

It is based on a tranche of texts published between 2019 and 2023 including nearly 6,000 media articles from major UK newspapers, over 200 political documents and more than 600 civil society texts, including reports, press releases, and written evidence submitted to UK parliamentary committees. 

The research finds that the conversation about migration in media and politics is dominated by numbers — with statistics on small boat crossings, asylum applications, and deportations repeatedly used to frame migration as an overwhelming crisis.

Dr Stefano Piemontese, from the University of Birmingham and the author of the report, said: “This numerical fixation does not only strip away the human realities of migration, reducing people to mere items in logistics processes of crossings and deportations. 

“It also creates an illusion of measurability and control in public opinion, especially for a phenomenon long framed as requiring increased regulation, providing anti-immigration rhetoric with benchmarks against which political promises can be measured.”

The research found that the focus on quantification is particularly evident in the portrayal of migrant men, who are often constructed as faceless masses, reinforcing stereotypes of young, single, racialised men as potential security threats and women as vulnerable mothers or victims of trafficking.

‘Small Boats’ Dominate Debate

Media and political narratives overwhelmingly focus on small boat crossings in the English Channel, even though most irregular migrants in the UK do not arrive this way. 

Irregularity in people’s migration status — often branded illegal regardless of the facts — is more often the result of visa overstays, bureaucratic hurdles, or changes in immigration policy, factors that receive far less attention, the researchers found. 

Professor Nando Sigona, Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement at the University of Birmingham and coordinator of the study, said: “By framing migration primarily as an issue of border enforcement, the debate is skewed toward security concerns rather than addressing migrants’ rights, contributions, and long-term integration.”

Dr Piemontese added: “Political and media narratives oscillate between portraying irregular migrants as criminals and as victims of smuggling networks. 

“This dual framing enables Governments to position themselves as both tough on migration and humanitarian in their interventions—particularly through deterrence-based policies like deportations and offshore processing.”

Misleading Media Narratives 

The research also found that even left-leaning and liberal media outlets often reproduce reactionary rhetoric, emphasising enforcement and control over migrants’ rights or structural causes of irregularity. 

And the researchers argue that political discourse uses phrases like ‘illegal migration’ to justify restrictive policies. 

Irregular migrants are lumped into one distinct category — separate from ‘legal’ or ‘skilled’ migrants — a framework that emphasises their supposed un-deservingness and undesirability. 

“This dual rhetorical structure positions ‘illegal migrants’ as both morally suspect and economically undesirable, enabling policymakers to reframe migration as problematic despite economic dependencies on foreign labour,” the analysis found. 

Starkly, so-called “ethno-national categorisation” — the act of grouping migrants by race, nationality or religion — is fifteen times more prominent in media coverage compared to political or civil society discourse, with terms like “Albanian” and “African” among the most common descriptors. 

The study also revealed that the term “illegal migrants” appears exclusively in UK contexts in right-wing media, while “undocumented migrants” is used when referring to similar groups in the US. 

The analysis suggests conservative narratives frequently combine restrictive measures with selective openness to ‘desirable’ workers, using the image of ‘illegal migrants’ to justify deterrence policies (such as deportations and visa restrictions) “while simultaneously protecting ‘skilled migrants’ from anti-immigration sentiment”. 

Refugees are also often referred to in the context of ‘illegal migrants’ and criminals. 

This, author Dr Piemontese says, “shifts public compassion away”, while “weaponising” stories of antisocial behaviour by ‘illegal migrants’ to justify restricting fundamental rights for all migrants.

Civil Society Constrained 

Civil society organisations and advocacy groups are “not immune” to divisive discourse either, according to the study. 

“While organisations highlight the rights and contributions of irregular migrants, their narratives often respond to Government and media framings rather than setting their own agenda. Economic and humanitarian arguments dominate, but they do not fundamentally challenge state-driven notions of ‘deservingness’” the study’s backers say. 

Professor Sigona added: “Our report highlights the need to move beyond simplistic and transactional justifications for migration. Rather than treating irregular migration as a ‘problem to be solved,’ we suggest a shift toward narratives that acknowledge migration as a natural and historical phenomenon—one that requires a human-centred and rights-based approach rather than an exclusive focus on enforcement.”

The study was conducted as part of the I-CLAIM project, which investigates the living and working conditions of migrant households with precarious legal status in Europe. It is led by the University of Birmingham and Utrecht University and funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme and UKRI.

“The Narrative Construction of Migrant Irregularity in the United Kingdom: Representation and Narratives in Media, Politics, and Civil Society” is written by Dr Stefano Piemontese and is available here. 

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