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Just under two months ago, Donald Trump, during ABC’s presidential debate, made an unfounded, baseless and false claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating the pets there. The claim isn’t just untrue, as confirmed by the Springfield city officials, it is also an indicator of our post-truth reality. Given some exceptions, it would be absurd to assume that Trump supporters do not recognize the implausibility of such a statement. The basic idea is that the truth doesn’t matter; what matters is rhetoric. It is important for us as viewers to understand the content and the history of Trump’s campaign that has made it possible for him to say such a thing in front of over 67 million people.
The 2024 Republican campaign has primarily focused on two issues: the economy and immigration. Immigration has been one of Trump’s key issues since 2016 when he first ran for president. His narrative was so well televised that I knew what “build the wall” meant as a middle school student in India.
To contextualize the numbers, around 77% of foreign-born individuals (approximately 37 million) in the U.S. are lawful immigrants: these include naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents and temporary lawful immigrants. Unauthorized immigrants constitute the remaining 23% (approximately 11 million). These include people who entered the country without legal permission or people who entered the country on a non-permanent visa and stayed after that expired.
Since the start of Biden’s term, encounters with migrants — people who attempted to enter the country without legal permission and people who tried to enter legally but were deemed inadmissible — have risen. The data for the past four years indicate about 10 million encounters, with encounters decreasing from last year by about 300,000. The amount of encounters do not translate to the number of individuals illegally staying in the US; for example, the same person can be recorded multiple times trying to enter the country. So, to suggest that the number of encounters equals the number of unauthorized individuals living in the U.S. is false and misleading.
These numbers are considerably higher than Trump’s term. However, one must remember that Biden took office during a time when the world was in distress — the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, much like the rest of the world, many Latin American and Caribbean countries faced economic downturns and violence. This led to them fleeing their respective countries in search of a better life. The nationality with the second-highest number of encounters at the U.S.–Mexico border from October 2023 to August 2024 were Venezuelans, with over 200,000. Venezuela faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 7.7 million Venezuelans leaving the country since 2014. Many report that their lives have improved since entering the U.S., and data shows they actively contribute to the wider economy. This positive aspect of documented or undocumented immigration, which happens to be the most likely outcome, seems absent from Trump’s rhetoric and policy prescription toward immigration.
He instead continues to spew lies about immigrants. In a post on Truth Social, he falsely claimed 13,000 convicted murderers had entered the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration. These individuals are part of ICE’s non-detained docket that includes a total of 425,431 non-citizens convicted of a crime who had entered the U.S. under any administration, including Trump’s. Now, such a technicality is not as appealing as someone just claiming that during the Biden-Harris administration, there has been 13,000 convicted non-citizen murderers roaming the streets freely. A vast majority of these convicted murderers entered before the Biden-Harris administration — to implicate the Biden administration in this specifically is misleading.
Trump is extremely influential among his followers. His inflammatory rhetoric has the potential to shape public perception, in turn increasing prejudice and xenophobia. This puts millions of foreign-born authorized and unauthorized people living in the U.S. at risk of discrimination.
Even after these statistics have been debunked by credible news outlets and, in some cases, official government data, the Trump-Vance campaign continues to spew hate at their rallies. Just about a week ago, while speaking at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian, called Puerto Rico “an island of garbage.” One must remember Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S., and all people born there after 1941 are U.S. citizens. Such hateful rhetoric against your own citizens of Puerto Rico is racist. Trump has distanced himself from that comment since then, but simply allowing it at an event so big with viewers from around the world is irresponsible for a presidential hopeful.
Trump’s policy prescriptions for immigrants and immigration are outright dangerous. He advocates for the mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. — about 11 million individuals, some of whom have lived in the U.S. for decades, will face the wrath of this policy. He wants to militarize the southern border, and for this, he wishes to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This would allow the president to deport and detain immigrants without a hearing and purely based on the country of their birth. Deportation has the potential to cause devastating effects on the U.S. economy and budget. There are many other discriminatory policies he has floated implementing, like reinstating “remain in Mexico,” — which would force migrants seeking asylum to return to danger in Mexico until their cases are heard — ideological screenings for immigrants and ending birthright citizenship. He has even suggested revoking the Temporary Protected Status of Haitians in Springfield if elected. However, the militarization of the border and mass deportation remain the most consequential in their potential impact. This would regress the human rights standards that Western nations have always championed.
We know Trump’s rhetoric on migrant crime is based on pure lies and misrepresentation of already skewed statistics. Migrants are less likely to commit crimes than their U.S.-born counterparts. On average, immigrants pay more in taxes than they consume in benefits. Overall, one could say that unauthorized immigration to the United States has increased, but deportation and militarization are not the solution. A better naturalization process which would encourage unauthorized immigrants to be a part of the formal economy is the way forward. An easier visa process would likely disincentivize risking lives to immigrate. The U.S.-Mexico border route happens to be the deadliest route in the Americas when immigrating, with over 8,000 deaths or missing cases since 2014. These lives could potentially be saved with an easier immigration policy.
The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. Many have come to America and realized their American dream for generations. I believe that the American dream is still alive, and immigrants deserve a shot at it too.
Advait (he/they) is a sophomore studying economics and sociology.
