The Framing of Immigration - An Analysis of the European Immigration Pact

Abstract: International immigration has become one of the greatest concerns in world politics in the last few decades. Due to discrepancy of wealth among different regions of the world, some states have become destinations for immigrants whilst others have become targets of brain drain. The aim of this thesis is to examine how immigration is framed in today's European immigration policy. More specifically, I will take a look at why immigration has become a problem, instead of being seen as an opportunity. In order to pursue this analysis a framing model, developed by Robert M. Entman will be applied. With the help of Entman's framing paradigm, four different frames will be highlighted which are to be found in the Pact. By analyzing the draft of European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, the result indicates that the two most dominant frames in the text are the Illegal frame and the Security frame. Since the Pact is to be transposed further into practical actions by the next multiannual policy programme of Justice and Home Affaires, the result of this thesis is rather considerable.