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The media frequently utilizes dehumanizing metaphoric framings when discussing immigrant groups in America. Whether these dehumanizing depictions can actually shape the American public’s policy attitudes towards immigrants, how they might be able to do so, and who might be most susceptible to the dehumanizing metaphoric framing has yet to be tested experimentally. According to classic metaphor theory, metaphor exposure impacts attitudes by placing constraints on information processing: enhancing the identification of similarities between the source and target of the metaphor (e.g., “mooching” when “immigrants are parasites”) and suppressing the identification of dissimilarities between the source and target (e.g., “providing” when “immigrants are parasites”). The impact of metaphor exposure on these two types of processing patterns was expected to influence relevant attitudes (i.e., double mediation model). Two studies found support for only one component of the double mediation model: the suppression of dissimilarities. Importantly, this slowed processing of metaphor-incongruent information affected same-target and source-relevant attitudes only, suggesting that a metaphor’s impact on attitudes through information processing is uniquely found on metaphor-relevant attitudes. In addition, metaphor exposure interacted with individuals’ endorsement of the Protestant Work Ethic (i.e., their subscription to frugality and industriousness) to slow processing of both metaphor-congruent and metaphor-incongruent information. Because only the slowed processing of metaphor-incongruent information affected subsequent attitudes, the interaction increased resource-based anti-immigrant attitudes. This data suggests that the impact of metaphor exposure on attitudes is moderated by personality characteristics that are relevant to the metaphor.