Trump is Wrong about Immigrants, and it’s Hurting America
By Ernesto Castañeda and Daniel Jenks
November 3, 2024
Immigration has always been a cornerstone of Trump’s political campaigns. He creates an imaginary world where immigrants are violent and represent a threat to their family, neighborhoods, and country. Trump and his followers assume this position will win them votes and support. Research by the Immigration Lab shows that this is not the case. Nonetheless, his rhetoric is dangerous and dehumanizes the foreign-born — a group that represents over 14% of the country. He encourages militia and individuals to think about committing political violence against migrants and those who may look like them.
Furthermore, Trump’s discussions about immigration are misleading. His policy proposals would harm migrants and the native-born alike. Below are examples of why:
CRIME: Trump speaks as if immigrants are seemingly the only group of people who commit crimes. Research documented in a new book shows that native-born Americans commit more crimes than migrants and that communities near the Southern U.S. border are overwhelmingly safe and calm.
Migrants come to the United States for a variety of reasons. Some come to find a job and send money to their families abroad; others come to work and be with their family members who already live here.
ECONOMY: Trump frames immigration as negative. Research shows that in the real world, immigration is a win-win. It helps people escape war, political persecution, or relative poverty; it also increases innovation, investment, and economic growth in the places where immigrants settle. Immigrants work long hours, often for low pay. Many also come with specialized skills and training, and many others start new businesses; all of them need to consume food, clothing, and housing, thus creating jobs for locals and increasing their market.
FAMILY SEPARATION: Trump believed that if he separated immigrant families arriving together at the border, nobody would want to immigrate ever again. However, this did not work to stop immigration, and it created horrifying situations where children were taken forcibly from their parents. The government lost track of hundreds of these children and the records tying them to their parents. Forced family separations could easily happen again in a second Trump administration.
UNACCOMPANIED YOUTH: Many likely remember in 2014 and 2016 when there was a visible group of minors arriving at the border without a parent — most often trying to reunite with a parent already living in the U.S. Most were in their early and mid-teens. Trump often referred to them as “military-age males” and “hardened criminals.” In our book, Reunited, we show that migrant youth from the region were coming largely to escape gangs and gang recruitment.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT SPEECH: Trump’s main immigration policy solution during his 2024 campaign has shifted from the border wall to mass deportations, a dangerous and extreme proposal. The rhetoric he uses continues to be xenophobic, racist, and dehumanizing and would violate the United States Bill of Rights. There would be broad-ranging implications for all communities, and research shows that mass deportations could lead to a recession.
While Trump has used racist rhetoric about migrants since the very beginning of his campaign, this recent round has been the most explicit. This dehumanizing rhetoric towards a boogeyman has been used around the world to justify violence and genocide. Perpetrators of hate crimes, such as the man who walked into a Walmart in El Paso, TX, in 2019 and killed 23 and injured 22 people, clearly stated that he did so because Trump said that migrants were invading the country, and he was there to kill Mexicans. A second Trump presidency and mass deportations would lead to an increase in vigilante violence.
Trump’s proclamation that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating their neighbor’s cats and dogs is one well-known conspiracy theory from this election cycle. This dehumanizes a whole group, and can directly lead to increased threats against members of the group.
RACISM: While Trump is not worried about being politically correct, the phrases, “It’s in their genes” and “They are poisoning the blood of our country,” are particularly racist. Race and ethnicity are not based on biological realities. Nonetheless, race can be weaponized to further the interests of one group over another. Trump has said that those with “good genes” like his from the “right type” of immigrant backgrounds are implicitly better. When speaking about immigrants, Trump has said, “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” Almost half of voters see Trump as a White Nationalist.
Immigration and diversity are part of the American success story. Trump’s proposals to move further toward a White Christian ethnostate would harm the whole country, including White people. Scapegoating immigrants and minorities instead of addressing real policy challenges is not the solution. White voters who feel that they have been treated unfairly by our economic system will be key in choosing between White identity politics and better economic policies. Burning down the country is not in anybody’s long-term interest. Those who want harmony, order, and a strong economy do not want what Trump is selling.
Ernesto Castañeda is Professor and Director of the Immigration Lab and the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University.
Daniel Jenks is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
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