In recent weeks, racist conspiracy theories about immigrants have dominated the election cycle. Senior Republicans have doubled down on unfounded rumors about black and brown immigrants, fearing that immigrants are responsible for increased crime in American cities.
During last week’s presidential debate, Donald Trump repeated the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio ate pets. “In Springfield, they’re eating dogs. People that came in. They’re eating cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people who live there,” the Republican candidate said.
And in response to a question about the high cost of living, Trump referred to viral rumors that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang took over a Colorado apartment complex. “Look at Aurora in Colorado. They’re taking over cities. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.”
Both statements are completely false.
Experts argue that the spread of such disinformation reinforces existing xenophobic beliefs in the American psyche as a means of political gain. “It’s so dangerous when people with a platform repeat these well-made rumors,” said Gladis Ibarra, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “These are largely part of a broad coordinated strategy to continue to demonize our immigrant neighbors. It undermines our nation’s values and historically what people have said this nation stands for.”
Misinformation (inaccurate information spread unknowingly) and disinformation (false information intended to mislead) are widely shared through social media platforms, despite efforts to verify and be accurate since the 2016 presidential election. According to University of Cincinnati journalism professor Jeffrey Layne Blevins, the phenomenon of inaccurate news continues to occur at an alarming rate because people’s online algorithms are largely driven by their political biases.
“[The algorithm] is just designed to keep users engaged,” Blevins said, referring to metrics like how long a person watches content or shares it in their feed. “And what’s most engaging for people? Things that irritate them or make them angry.”
Blevins added that right-wingers spread disinformation in hopes of “infuriating people on the political right,” especially during an election cycle. Such content is accepted as truth by those online who share right-wing beliefs themselves. “It kind of creates an echo chamber,” he said. “When public figures who share your political beliefs post this kind of content, people are more likely to accept it by name.”
Related: JD Vance admits he’s willing to “make up stories” to get media attention
Republicans at all levels of government have linked immigrants to violent crimes, including drug trafficking and assault. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump claimed that Mexicans crossing the US southern border were “rapists”, “bringing drugs, bringing crime”. He started building a wall along the border — among other anti-immigrant policies — to keep out “the big bags of drugs [from being thrown] over”. During this election cycle, Trump has said that undocumented people are “animals” who are “poisoning the blood of our country,” even though immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
Demonizing immigrants is a frequent move by lawmakers to get votes, said Germán Cadenas, an assistant professor at Rutgers University who specializes in the psychology of immigration. “Immigration really isn’t as divisive as some politicians are trying to make it out to be,” he said, with 64 percent of Americans believing immigration is good for the country. “It’s a tactic historically used to mobilize voters who feel threatened.”
For centuries, Cadenas said, politicians built policy around the stereotype that immigrants are a “threat” to American identity and security. Anti-immigration laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924 were among the first to restrict immigration based on US citizenship. The Chinese Exclusion Act came largely after high-ranking union members warned of a “Chinese invasion” that would steal white American jobs. Similarly, U.S. senators advised their lawmakers to “shut the door” on immigrants because the migrating population would “encroach upon the reserve and virgin resources of the United States” before the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act.
Fast forward to the early 2000s, when states like Arizona passed laws allowing local law enforcement to target anyone they believed to be in the country without documents. Arizona Republicans called the influx of undocumented people an “attack that must be stopped” and a “threat to national security,” a political tactic to drum up support for the controversial bill.
Politicians are also trying to build a voting bloc by adopting anti-immigration policies. “Historically, these stereotypes, these lies have had [then] Used to mobilize voters to elect policymakers who intend to craft anti-immigrant laws and policies.”
While most Americans welcome immigration, Cadenas said, “Racism and xenophobia are deeply embedded in our society and our psychology.” A study by Cadenas and Elizabeth Kiehne found that white US adults are more susceptible to the stereotype that Latino immigrants are a threat.
“Anti-immigrant rhetoric is not about persuasion so much as it is about reinforcing and reinforcing pre-existing beliefs,” Cadenas said. “It takes a lot of effort to eliminate these problematic beliefs and prejudices.”
Related: A ‘very old political trope’: US racist history behind Trump’s Haitian pet-eater claim
Disinformation about immigrants has consequences, Cadenas and Ibarra said. “Across the nation, several states have ‘anti-immigrant policies,'” Cadenas said, meaning those states pass laws that make life difficult for immigrants.
“A small minority of people who are threatened by immigration elect policy makers who design policies that are negative towards immigrants,” he added. “These policies trickle down to housing. They trickle down to the way authorities deal with immigration at the local level. These policies trickle down to health care and the health care and mental health that immigrants have.”
Venezuelan residents of the aforementioned housing complex in Aurora have said they feel unsafe after rumors of a gang coup and fear being stereotyped as criminals.
Springfield has received more than 33 bomb threats since Trump’s debate. Its town hall was evacuated and some local schools. Hospitals in Springfield are also on alert, and Haitian migrants say they have received several threats.
“People who are hardworking and contribute to our communities are not at risk,” Ibarra said. “The danger is all these violent ideologies that are fueled by people who repeat these lies, people who go on social media and on television and continue to repeat them.”
