The Perils of the Boomerang Effect: White House Messaging to Deter Border Crossing Backfires

The Boomerang Effect explains how a given persuasive message produces attitude change in the direction opposite to that intended. We seek to explain how the convergence of Central American migrants at the southwest border since 2014 is, in part, produced by the United States (U.S.) White House messaging misstep. We propose a bottom-up persuasive approach to effectively spread awareness of the dangers of unauthorized border crossing. Instead of state authority voices, local native voices can effectually convey the message. The bottom-up approach of persuasion is a foundational strategy to effectively design a public awareness campaign focusing on ethos. The objective is not to stop immigration, but to educate migrants to (a) identify propaganda and (b) refuse smugglers’ advances. The model considers three main factors: (1) most frequently used and trusted media channels, (2) dynamic influencers and knowledgeable local leaders, (3) competent and trustworthy sources of information.