Trump's 'invasion' slur against immigrants isn't just racist. It's false

Remember the “caravan?” That train of impoverished immigrants trudging up through Central America, supposedly to “invade” our southern border? This was the endlessly hyped, incendiary story repeated over and over on Fox News in the weeks leading up to the 2018 elections. Amazingly, the story all but vanished into thin air after Republicans were effectively blown out by voters that November. After that, suddenly no one at Fox News seemed to care much about the caravan.

The caravan hype owed itself directly to Donald Trump, who has continually promoted this “invasion” rhetoric toward immigrants since 2015.

Here he was again, speaking to the press five days before the 2018 election:

At this very moment, large, well-organized caravans of migrants are marching towards our southern border. Some people call it an “invasion.” It’s like an invasion.

As the 2024 election approaches, the word “invasion” has become acceptable usage among Trump’s sycophants and Republican imitators. As reported by Jazmine Ulloa, writing for The New York Times, “The word invasion has appeared in 27 television ads for Republican candidates—accounting for more than $5 million in ad spending—ahead of the November 2024 election, according to early April data from AdImpact.”

Immigration is the one issue that Republicans intend to fixate on because they have nothing else to talk about, certainly nothing they’ve achieved themselves. In fact, Republicans—again following Donald Trump’s command—deliberately prevented the Biden administration from drastically increasing protection of the U.S.-Mexican border by blocking passage of comprehensive immigration legislation they themselves had co-authored, simply so Trump could use the issue against President Biden in 2024. That bill literally provided billions in funding for border security and protection. So while they clearly believe immigration is a helpful issue for inflaming their base, it’s equally clear that Republicans don’t consider it serious enough to actually do something about.

There’s no argument that the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S. border has increased since President Biden took office. The number of people turned away by the Biden administration has also reached record levels, but (to be fair) that is a function of the overall numbers. Earlier this month the administration took unilateral action that would deny the right of asylum to those who crossed the border unlawfully. The Biden administration clearly recognizes that controlling the influx of immigrants in this country is an important concern.

However, it is not an “invasion.” Calling it an invasion is not simply dehumanizing to the people who arrive at our border with Mexico. It is intended to suggest that some terrible harm will come to Americans because of an increase in immigrants. But there is simply no evidence of that. In fact, most of the data suggests the exact opposite.

Take Texas, for example. Immigrants comprise about one quarter of the state’s entire workforce. Of the estimated 3.3 million immigrant workers within its borders, 1.1 million of those are undocumented. They contribute about $119 billion annually to the Texas economy, based on their personal income. They also pay about $6.5 billion in taxes. That doesn’t sound like an invasion. It sounds, quite simply, like people coming to do work here that needs to be done. 

As reported by the bipartisan political advocacy group for immigrants, Fwd.US, in the state of Texas alone:

[Immigrants] make up significant shares of workers in industries like construction (37%), business services (23%), and manufacturing (26%). Immigrants make up even larger shares of more specific essential industries, like 53% of landscaping services, 47% of building services, 42% of meat processing, 22% of restaurant and food services, and a third or more of several manufacturing industries, including those that produce plastic products and electrical products.

Unsurprisingly, it is the undocumented folks who tend to work in the hardest jobs, representing an outsized number of people employed in the sweaty, back-breaking fields of agriculture, construction, groundskeeping, and maintenance. These are not the type of jobs preferred by even so-called legal immigrants who can afford to demand (and get) more because of their status. They’re also willing to take these jobs because native-born Americans generally won’t. 

Although some attain licensures and professional status in business and other fields, by and large these immigrants are not entrepreneurs. They are not forming sole proprietorships or banding together as LLCs. Someone keeps hiring them, again and again.  

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott howls about immigrants, he seldom mentions the Texas companies and businesses that hire them—and keep hiring them—year after year. No Republican ever mentions that, in fact. But that is the major reason they keep arriving at our border: Because there is plenty of work to be found here. If these people were such a dire threat, wouldn’t you expect a massive crackdown with heavy penalties—not just piddling, one-time fines but serious prison sentences—levied on their employers? 

The reality is that these folks prop up the entire service economy of states like Texas. Because Texas employers—including small businesses and corporations run by Republicans—want it that way.

That’s why it’s so odd to hear Republicans complaining about an “invasion.” Unless they are directly involved in employing them—and many clearly are—the vast majority of Republicans’ interaction with most undocumented immigrants is limited to blithely driving through their suburban enclaves while these “invaders” are hard at work mowing their grass, putting up their neighbor’s roof, or helping grandma get out of bed in her nursing home.

Perhaps these Republicans and those who support them should take a break from chomping down their Angus burgers and glance at the people cleaning up their mess in the fast food restaurant. Or better yet, they could go get a job application and hand it to their own kids. “Here son, want to clean a house? Want to pick some fruit out in a hot field for twelve hours a day?” You can surmise what the reaction would be.

And no, immigrants are not coming here to commit crimes. Why? Because—quite logically—they’re terrified they’ll be deported if they do. Many of them sought immigration in the first place to escape political oppression, gang violence, and abysmal economic conditions. Unlike some people in this country, they have scant political representation and no high-priced lawyers standing up for them in court. They can’t afford to thumb their nose at our criminal justice system in the manner of our most esteemed citizens.

But many have families to support. And apparently they take their civic responsibility a lot more seriously than so-called real Americans. As reported by NPR’s Jasmine Garsd:

Some of the most extensive research comes from Stanford University. Economist Ran Abramitzky found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people.

There is also state level research that shows similar results: researchers at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, looked into Texas in 2019. They found that undocumented immigrants were 37.1% less likely to be convicted of a crime.

Beyond incarceration rates, research also shows that there is no correlation between undocumented people and a rise in crime. Recent investigations by The New York Times and The Marshall Project found that between 2007 and 2016, there was no link between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent or property crime in those communities.

Nor are they bringing in fentanyl. That’s another myth spun by Republicans out of whole cloth. As reported by Joel Rose for NPR:

[T] he vast majority of illicit fentanyl — close to 90% — is seized at official border crossings. Immigration authorities say nearly all of that is smuggled by people who are legally authorized to cross the border, and more than half by U.S. citizens like Haley. Virtually none is seized from migrants seeking asylum.

It’s a common complaint that immigrant hiring reduces wages for U.S. citizens. Even if that were true, that’s not the fault of the immigrants but the fault of the employers who hire them, knowing that they can get away with paying substandard wages and denying such workers benefits and protections enjoyed by U.S. citizens. 

But as reported by Amita Kelly for NPR, the reality is that “Economists disagree whether or how much an influx of immigrants depresses wages:”

Some have found that new immigrants depress wages for certain groups, such as teenagers or workers with a high school diploma or less. Others say the overall effect on the economy is tiny, and an influx of immigrant workers vitalizes the economy overall.

Either way, the forces driving wage reductions for blue-collar workers go far beyond immigration.

It’s also fair to point out that the “forces” driving lower wages for blue collar workers owe themselves to the decrease in union representation, a development that is almost entirely due to Republican policies. But even the libertarian CATO institute acknowledges that “A decrease in the supply of immigrants can only increase native wages if immigrants and natives are substitutes for one another; in other words, if they compete for the same jobs.”

Does anyone honestly believe that with unemployment hovering at or below 4%—and taking these 15-20 million immigrants out of the picture, as Donald Trump plans to do—that we would see an influx of demand from American citizens to do the work that many immigrants—documented or otherwise—are now doing? Picking fruit and vegetables in scorching fields? Tending to grandpa at his assisted living facility? Cleaning houses? 

No, we wouldn’t. What we would see instead are those jobs going unfilled, with devastating consequences to the entire country—social and economic—to match.  

So if this is an invasion, it’s a mighty curious one. Americans pay these so-called invaders substandard wages to do the necessary work that we clearly don’t want to do. We blame them for drugs and crime they have nothing to do with. Then we demonize them, declaring they’re “poisoning the blood” of our nation, and agitate about deporting them. Meanwhile, we continue to gorge ourselves—often quite literally—on the fruits of their labor. It’s an “invasion,” but we want our fast food. It’s an “invasion,” but we want our landscaping and new roofs. It’s an “invasion,” but we want our cheap fruit and vegetables.  

The influx of immigrants into our country is not an invasion and we’re not being invaded. The word is simply an inflammatory, dehumanizing slur, lifted straight out of Donald Trump’s racist lexicon.

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