Communications Strategies for Trump’s New Travel Ban

Note: In this blog post, the term “Muslim Ban” refers specifically to the ban implemented during the first Trump administration. While “travel ban” pertains to the current ban, which has a broader scope and a wider impact beyond Muslim-majority communities.

On June 9, 2025, the Trump administration announced a sweeping new travel ban, which barred or heavily restricted the entry of travelers from nineteen countries, primarily from Africa and the Middle East. Just like the Muslim Ban from the first Trump presidency, families are being separated, refugees are denied a safe haven, and entire communities are targeted under the guise of national security.

While civil rights groups, legal experts, and grassroots organizers are mobilizing to respond, the landscape has changed. To respond effectively, our progressive movements must adapt to a changed media environment, a more polarized public, and an even faster-moving information cycle. To help us refine our communications strategies for the current moment, ReThink Media organized a webinar with a panel of expert communicators to share lessons learned from organizing against the Muslim Ban during the first Trump presidency. The panel featured Eva Galanes-Rosenbaum, Chief Operating Officer at ReThink Media; Zainab Chaudary, Executive Vice President at New Heights Communications; Suzie Flores, Vice President at Wonder: Strategies for Good; and Mira Nabulsi, Senior Communications Associate at ReThink Media. In this blog post, we share some of the key takeaways from that discussion.

Lessons Learned From the Muslim Ban that still Ring True Today

In January 2017, President Trump signed an executive order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, fulfilling his  campaign promise to implement a “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” As the Muslim ban was implemented and challenged in the courts, ReThink Media monitored and analyzed the media discourses and narratives about the ban.  We found that despite our movement’s attempts to shift the narrative, our voices were not resonating in mainstream media, and our impact was lacking. Thus, we collaborated with partner organizations and used media research to develop BAMEMSSA movement-wide messaging and media strategies. As the ban continued to be challenged in the courts, we refined our messaging, crafted opinion pieces, drafted press releases, and developed a comprehensive rapid response plan in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision.

The Supreme Court ultimately upheld an amended version of the ban in June 2018, which remained in effect until it was reversed through executive order under President Biden in 2021. Yet, our collective work played a crucial role in shaping the public narrative about the harms and impact of the ban. Here are four lessons we learned in the process:

Preparation pays off: Thanks to months of planning, the ReThink team and our partners responded swiftly and with unified action to the Supreme Court decision. Since we had already developed a collective strategy and messaging, we were able to organize a press call within hours of the Supreme Court decision and successfully placed op-eds from key validators in mainstream outlets, including a prominent piece on the virtual front page of USA Today, which reached audiences well beyond our usual base.

Message discipline matters: ReThink’s media analysis after the ban’s announcement revealed a broad spectrum of framings and themes used by spokespeople opposing the ban. In the months leading up to the Supreme Court’s final ruling in June 2018, the BAMEMSSA movement recognized the critical need for a strong, unified message to amplify our collective voice. 

ReThink’s research team developed data-driven topline messages that advocacy organizations adopted in all of their public communications. While each group tailored these messages to align with their individual missions, maintaining cohesive topline messages ensured our voices were heard clearly. Analysis of the media coverage following the SCOTUS decision confirmed that our spokespeople consistently focused on four main themes. This consistency ensured that our message was clear and aligned.

Public opinion is not set in stone: ReThink analyzed public opinion polling on the ban from Trump’s initial campaign speeches in 2015 through its implementation during his presidency. We found that public opinion was highly variable. While many people initially supported the policy, others wavered, or had no opinion. We discovered that many Americans can be persuaded on issues that matter to us when we use consistent, values-based messaging. Polls showed that even some supporters of the ban turned against it once exposed to critical media coverage and protests against the ban.  Messaging narratives that portrayed the ban as being at odds with American values successfully shifted the view of many of those who initially supported it. When Biden reversed the ban in 2021, polls showed that the American public largely supported his decision.

Winning is not only about what happens in the courtroom: Although the Supreme Court ultimately upheld the ban despite numerous legal challenges, our movement won the narrative fight. When ReThink analyzed the media coverage of the SCOTUS decision, we found our media presence increased significantly, with our voice share rising from 8% in early 2018 to 11.5% after the decision—a notable increase for our field, particularly when compared to our voice share in broader media coverage. The media stories about the decision included many voices from BAMEMSSA and allied organizations, often focusing on the human consequences of the ban. Overall, this suggested a shift in public discourse that the ban was harmful to our communities. 

What’s Different About Today’s Media Landscape

The media landscape has transformed since Trump’s first term, requiring us to shift and adapt our communications strategies to continue to reach and influence audiences effectively.

One of the most notable trends is the shift of misinformation from the margins to the mainstream of political discourse. Compared to 2017, false information, primarily driven by social media and AI, is now far more embedded in how issues are discussed and understood. Recent studies confirm that the problem is only getting worse. An MIT study found that fake news spreads up to 10 times faster than factual reporting on social media—and corrections rarely reach as many people or carry the same impact.

Compounding the challenge of misinformation is the rapid growth of social media and online content creation, making it difficult to hold people’s attention due to the explosion and constancy of information. In the “attention economy,” where focus is limited, our brains are so overwhelmed by the amount of information that we seek cognitive shortcuts, often believing the first message we see. Our opposition understands this and uses it to their advantage by employing sensationalist and emotionally charged content to capture and maintain attention—often overshadowing more nuanced or factual narratives.

At the same time, how people consume news has also shifted. Data from a 2024 Pew Research Center factsheet show that 86% of Americans now get at least some of their news from digital devices and a wide range of sources. More than half (54%) get news from social media at least sometimes, and 37% from podcasts. In comparison, in 2017, during the first Muslim Ban, only 45% of U.S. adults often got news via mobile devices. 

The media and information landscape today is far more fragmented, making it harder to reach a broad audience through any one outlet and weakening the reach and authority of traditional news sources. While social media use was also high in 2017 (67%), the fastest-growing platforms were Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Today, people get their news from a wider variety of platforms— including X (formerly Twitter), Truth Social (owned by President Trump), Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and others—and their use of these platforms varies based on age, gender, political affiliation, and other factors. 

Effective Communications for Our Current Moment 

What does a fast-paced news cycle and fragmented media landscape mean for our messaging? Our webinar panelists shared some tips on how to craft an effective communications strategy in response to Trump’s travel ban:

• Use Evergreen, Emotional Messaging
  Always remember that the first message people hear tends to stick. As Zainab Chaudary noted, we can’t waste precious media opportunities getting bogged down in nuance, such as parsing whether the current ban is technically a “Muslim Ban” or why specific countries are included. We need messaging that is easy to repeat, sticks in people’s minds, and remains relevant despite the changing news cycle.
• Take an “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” Approach
  Zainab also noted that reaching a fragmented media ecosystem requires communicating across all channels simultaneously—traditional media, social media, podcasts, video, and more. Consistency and saturation are key both on earned and owned media.
• Center the Audience Experience
  Effective messaging isn’t just about what we want to say—it’s about saying it in a way your audience can connect with it and receive it. Always consider who your audience is and what they need to hear.
• Treat Communication as Strategy, Not a Tool
  Remember that narrative is part of the fight, not simply a tool for disseminating information. Don’t treat communications as an afterthought or a secondary tactic; make it central to your organization’s legal, policy, and advocacy strategies by involving your communications staff from the beginning of your campaign.
• Emphasize Shared Values, Identities, and Shared Harms
  Don’t just lean on shared values—highlight shared harms. It’s not only immigrants, refugees, or families with mixed status who are hurt by immigration policies; everyone is paying a price. Suzie Flores presented a recent report demonstrating that framing immigration enforcement as taking money away from healthcare and other human services increases public opposition to mass deportations.
  Additionally,  inclusive framing, such as ‘our neighbors,’ ‘ our coworkers,’ or ‘our community,’ brings impacted people into the audience’s ‘in-group.’
• Show, Not Tell
  Sharing human stories that illustrate the policy impact is very effective in reaching new audiences and is more persuasive than standalone statements. Embedding key messages in human stories allows audiences to witness the real-life consequences of harmful policies and reach their own conclusions.
• Use Diverse Messengers and Guide the Emotional Journey
  Friends, teachers, coworkers, and faith leaders can be powerful advocates and messengers, especially at a time when immigrant communities’ safety is at risk. Their voices can counter anti-immigrant narratives and help audiences feel a personal connection to the issue. Consider the emotional journey you want your audience to experience, and select messengers who can guide them from indifference or perceived distance to clarity, empathy, and action. Make your audience feel connected to the issue, not as bystanders, but as people directly affected by harmful policies.
• Naming What We Are For, Not Just What We’re Against
  Finally, don’t just critique harmful policies—offer a clear, alternative vision. Many people already hold positive sentiments toward immigrants; help them act on that instinct by proposing specific solutions in terms they understand and support. Paint a picture of a fair, humane immigration system that protects families, respects human rights, and reflects the nation’s values.

Recommended Messaging for the Travel Ban 2025

To support advocates and partner organizations responding to the 2025 Travel Ban, the Rights & Inclusion Collaborative at ReThink Media has developed suggested messages and talking points. These are intended to serve as a starting point; they can be tailored to different audiences, communities, and contexts.

In the coming weeks, we will also collaborate with partners serving impacted communities to develop practical tools and resources that utilize those communication strategies and messages, which can be shared widely.  Stay tuned for updates and new resources to help power your advocacy.