Unraveling the Giant Ball of Lies, Myths, and Disinformation about Immigration

Editor's note: The following report by CIPR co-director Lisa M. Martinez, a professor of sociology at the University of Denver, was originally published in the CIPR Migration Mailer a month before the 2024 presidential election.

The 2024 presidential election is in full swing and, once again, former President Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, his pick for vice president, have made immigration a centerpiece of their campaign. In recent weeks, both Trump and Vance have made baseless claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s pets, a lie that spread like wildfire. Despite modest pushback from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, as well as local elected officials and residents of Springfield who countered that Haitian migrants’ contributions have greatly helped their previously struggling economy, they have continued to tout this falsehood at rallies, the presidential debate on September 10, and again during the vice presidential debate on October 1. 

Since then, Trump and Vance have used the campaign trail to spread even more incendiary lies about migrants, including that they are to blame for the housing crisis, despite a Congressional Budget Office report showing that the surge in rents was preceded by the surge in migration and that immigration is an overall benefit to the economy. At a September 21 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump went on a rant about migrants, saying, “They are taking your jobs. Every job produced in this country over the last two years has gone to illegal aliens.” Most recently, during campaign stops, interviews, and in social media posts, Trump falsely claimed that FEMA is unable to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Helene because funds are going to migrants. Trump has also doubled down on the myth of immigrant criminality, most recently targeting Venezuelan and Congolese migrants, while also blaming them for fentanyl deaths in the U.S. And, in a October 7 interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, Trump attributed immigrants who commit murders as having “bad genes.”

These lies, myths, and disinformation are an attempt to gin up Trump’s base, which is not a new tactic. Generations ago, with successive waves of migrants from south, central, and eastern Europe, immigrant newcomers were the targets of the same vitriol as immigrants today. They were cast as criminals, job stealers, and members of inferior races who were believed to be gaining an upper hand at the expense of U.S. citizens. 

Given that Trump and Vance are opposed to fact-checking about migration and other topics, they will likely continue to spread lies and disinformation. The danger is that their lies eventually make their way into the mainstream political discourse. Once the ball of lies, myths, and disinformation begin to grow, it is difficult to unravel. There are simply too many tangles. 

It is unclear if the Trump/Vance camp is gaining any supporters beyond the diehard MAGA base with their falsehoods and distortions. If Trump is re-elected, the American public should believe that he will follow through on implementing a mass deportation policy that will exceed the number of removals during the Eisenhower-era deportation initiative—known as Operation Wetback—many times over. Indeed, Trump’s former senior adviser, Stephen Miller, the architect of his family separation policy, has promised a “turbocharged” denaturalization campaign to begin on Day One of a new Trump administration. Trump and Miller also suggest they plan to target 20 million immigrants currently living in the U.S. Given that approximately 11 million immigrants are unauthorized, this suggests they plan to deport legal immigrants, too. This could include Haitians living in Springfield, too; Trump said as much in an interview with NewsNation where he acknowledged he would “absolutely” revoke their temporary protected status if elected.

Aside from the fact that a mass deportation effort like the one Trump and Vance are describing would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, if not $1 trillion dollars, experts agree it would be catastrophic to the economy in terms of the cost of implementing such an initiative while also destroying several economic sectors that rely on migrant labor, including agriculture, construction, health care, and the service industry. Experts are also in agreement that such a program would be unusually cruel and inhumane as it would entail the U.S. military rounding up migrants and sending them to detention camps prior to removal. The devastating results would include renewed family separation, overcrowded facilities, human rights abuses, and chaos. 

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed to toughen border enforcement and asylum processes while supporting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if elected. President Joe Biden also recently announced he is expanding the asylum ban, making an already difficult process for migrants seeking asylum even more arduous.

One thing is for sure: If voters elect Trump next month, his immigration policies will have long-lasting and devastating effects on migrant communities directly targeted—and U.S. citizens who will also reap the consequences.

Election Resources and Fingertip Facts about Immigration

Given the breadth of disinformation at the forefront of the 2024 presidential election, CIPR has compiled a list of election resources to dispel the falsehoods and myths currently circulating and, instead, provide links to trusted resources about immigration in the U.S. We also invite you to join us for a CIPR panel, “The 2024 Presidential Election and the Future of U.S. Migration Policy” on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 5-7 p.m. at DU’s SIE Complex, Room 1020 (The Forum).  

American University, “What are the Consequences of Trump’s Immigration Misinformation?” https://www.american.edu/cas/news/to-the-point-trump-immigration-misinformation.cfm

American Immigration Council, “Mass Deportation: Devastating Costs to America, Its Budget and Economy.” https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/mass-deportation

Cato Institute, “126 Parole Orders over 7 Decades: A Historical Review of Immigration Parole Orders.” https://immigrationimpact.com/2024/09/30/are-haitian-immigrants-legal-misses-the-point/

Cato Institute, “U.S. Citizens Were the 80.2 Percent of Crossers with Fentanyl at Ports of Entry from 2019 to 2024.” https://www.cato.org/blog/us-citizens-were-802-crossers-fentanyl-ports-entry-2019-2024

Immigration Impact, “Fighting Over Whether Haitian Immigrants are ‘Legal’ Misses the Point: They’re Legally Vulnerable.” https://immigrationimpact.com/2024/09/30/are-haitian-immigrants-legal-misses-the-point/

Migration Policy Institute, “Global Affordable Housing Shortages Can Harm Migrant Reception and Integration.” https://immigrationimpact.com/2024/09/30/are-haitian-immigrants-legal-misses-the-point/

MSNC, “Politicians are Trying to Tie Immigration to Our Housing Crisis. They’re Lying.” https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/housing-prices-forced-deportation-immigration-rcna174048

National Immigration Law Center, “How the Biden Administration’s Expanded Asylum Ban Puts Lives at Risk and Contradicts American Values.” https://www.nilc.org/resources/how-the-biden-administrations-expanded-asylum-ban-puts-lives-at-risk-and-contradicts-american-values/

National Institute of Justice, “Undocumented Immigrant Offending Rate Lower than U.S.-Born Citizen Rate.”  https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/undocumented-immigrant-offending-rate-lower-us-born-citizen-rate

NBC News, “What Economists Says about JD Vance’s Claim that Immigrants Drive Up Housing Costs.” https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/03/politics/trump-revoke-status-ohio-haitian-migrants/index.html

New American Economy, “The Impact of Immigration on the Housing Market.” https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/housingmap/

Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research, “The Mythical Tie Between Immigration and Crime.” https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime

Vera Institute, “Debunking the Lies Politicians Say About Immigrants.” https://www.vera.org/news/debunking-the-lies-politicians-say-about-immigrants