Many Americans disapproved of the immigration enforcement policies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the Trump administration. In this video, based on his CHDS Master’s thesis, “Strategic Communications and the Department of Homeland Security: Immigration Policies, Mixed Messaging, and Information Fratricide,” Jonathan Graham asks what can be learned about DHS’s communications strategy during controversial policy rollouts and whether a negative perception of those policies can be improved. Graham’s research targets the gap in understanding about DHS’s strategic communications efforts in contentious areas of immigration policy.
About the Presenter
Jonathan Graham is an Assistant Chief Counsel with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) in San Antonio, working criminal and priority removal cases before the South Texas Immigration Courts. Besides representing DHS in criminal removal and asylum cases, Jonathan provides operational advice to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers and other ICE and DHS stakeholders.
Jonathan serves on several subject matter expert teams with a nexus to homeland security, including the office’s national security team and appeal team. He also acts as a litigation point of contact for the FBI/JTTF in removal/bond cases involving federal law enforcement interest and serves as a subject matter expert in reviewing claims to U.S. citizenship. Jonathan is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and the Florida International University School of Law, and is a member of the Florida Bar. Prior to completing law school, he served for six years as a Traffic Homicide Investigator for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
