Former President Donald J. Trump, speaking at a multimillion-dollar fund-raiser on Saturday night, lamented that people were not immigrating to the United States from “nice” countries “like Denmark” and suggested that his well-heeled dinner companions were temporarily safe from undocumented immigrants nearby, according to an attendee. Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, made the comments during a roughly 45-minute presentation at a dinner at a mansion owned by the billionaire financier John Paulson in Palm Beach, Fla., a rarefied island community. Guests were seated outdoors at white-clothed tables under a white tent, looking out on the waterway that divides the moneyed town from the more diverse West Palm Beach, a mainland city, according to the attendee, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the private event but provided an extensive readout of Mr. Trump’s remarks. Dozens of wealthy donors helped write checks that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee claim totaled more than $50 million, an amount that would set a record but had not been verified. Campaign finance reports encompassing the date of the event won’t be available for months. Some of Mr. Trump’s comments were standard fare from his stump speeches, while other parts of the speech were tailored to his wealthy audience. About midway through his remarks, the attendee said, Mr. Trump began an extensive rant about migrants entering the United States, at a time when President Biden has been struggling with an intensified crisis at the Southern border. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F04%2F07%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-immigrants-nice-countries.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F04%2F07%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-immigrants-nice-countries.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F04%2F07%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-immigrants-nice-countries.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F04%2F07%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-immigrants-nice-countries.html).

Obviously, the big political news of the past couple of days has come from the Democratic side. But before last week’s Republican National Convention fades from view, let me focus instead on a development on the G.O.P. side that may, given everything else that has been happening, have flown under the radar: MAGA rhetoric on immigration, which was already ugly, has become even uglier. Until now, most of the anti-immigration sloganeering coming from Donald Trump and his campaign has involved [false claims](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/opinion/biden-trump-debate-crime.html) that we’re experiencing a migrant crime wave. Increasingly, however, Trump and his associates have started making the case that immigrants are stealing American jobs — specifically, the accusation that immigrants are inflicting terrible damage on the livelihoods of Black workers. Of course, the idea that immigrants are taking jobs away from native-born Americans, including native-born Black Americans, isn’t new. It has, in particular, been an obsession for JD Vance, complete with [misleading statistical analysis](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/08/vance-immigration-job-numbers/), so Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate in itself signals a new focus on the supposed economic harm inflicted by immigrants. So, too, did Trump’s acceptance speech on Thursday, which contained a number of assertions about the economics of immigration, among them, the notion that of jobs created under President Biden, “[107 percent](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/us/politics/trump-rnc-speech-transcript.html) of those jobs are taken by illegal aliens” — a weirdly specific number considering that it’s clearly false, because native-born employment has [risen by millions](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1qtjR) of jobs since Biden took office. What seems relatively new, however, is the attempt to pit immigrants against Black Americans. True, Trump prefigured this line of attack during his June debate with Biden, when he declared that immigrants are “[taking Black jobs](https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/4745183-black-americans-black-jobs-trump-biden-presidential-debate-cnn-atlanta-2024/),” leading some to mockingly question which jobs, exactly, count as “Black.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F22%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-immigration-black-voters.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F22%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-immigration-black-voters.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F22%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-immigration-black-voters.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F22%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-immigration-black-voters.html).

Joe Biden on Friday said the hostile attacks on Haitian immigrants in the US “\[have\] to stop” after [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) repeated a false and derogatory claim about a Haitian community in Ohio. “It is simply wrong that the proud Haitian community is under attack right now in this country,” Biden said. “There’s no place in America. This has to stop – what he’s doing. It has to stop,” the US president said at a White House event marking Black excellence. The mayor of Springfield, [Ohio](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ohio), earlier on Friday said that [the bomb threat](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/12/springfield-ohio-city-hall-bomb-threat) made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city’s Haitian community, following Donald Trump’s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents’ pets are being eaten. Rob Rue, the mayor, accused national [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other people’s pets of “hurting our city”. The threat “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community”, Rue [told the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/12/bomb-threat-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants/), and added that Springfield “is a community that needs help”. No bomb was found after the threat was made. But Rue told the local Fox outlet that, in the threat, “there was enough negative language toward immigrants, towards Haitian folks that would bring enough concern. And then when it followed up with … at the end, of a bomb threat … It was pretty much just the beginning of the conclusion that they’re going to threaten to harm people.” Springfield has been the subject of national attention in recent days after the false social media rumor about the Haitian community. Trump even [referenced the conspiracy theory](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/trump-springfield-pets-false-claims) in Tuesday night’s [debate](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/harris-trump-debate-fact-check-updates) with opponent [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris). Trump repeated the inflammatory falsehood, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats … They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” His move triggered a wave of anger and ridicule. That same day, [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance) mentioned the rumor on X (formerly Twitter), which has also been flooded with AI-generated images of Trump surrounded by dogs, cats and ducks. Rue on Tuesday condemned the rumors as totally false, with “zero” verified reports of such disparaging claims. ABC’s debate moderator David Muir made the same factcheck live on Tuesday night after Trump’s remarks. Rue told [the Springfield News-Sun](https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-leaders-reject-recent-wild-haitian-rumors-focus-on-few-key-problems/B7523FC6BVGYRNQDX7LXK3NVKM/): “Rumors like this are taking away from the real issues such as issues involving our housing or school resources and our overwhelmed healthcare system.” Meanwhile, during a Springfield city commission forum, Nathan Clark, the father of an 11-year-old boy who was killed last year when a minivan driven by an immigrant from Haiti collided with his school bus, told Trump and Vance to [stop using his son’s name](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/11/trump-vance-ohio-aiden-clark) for “political gain”. _Reuters contributed reporting_ **Read more about the 2024 US election:**

The second apparent attempt on Donald Trump’s life – on Sunday at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida – occurred just over two months after he was wounded during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you,” the former president said after the first attempt. “I’m just standing in the way.” “They” should not be coming after anyone. There is no place in a democracy for violence, nor for threats of violence. Which brings me to Trump’s claim in last week’s debate that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the dogs … eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” It quickly became a vast internet joke, fueling thousands of hilarious memes and songs. But it’s no laughing matter. Trump’s claim has already provoked threats of violence. Last weekend, two hospitals in Springfield were [locked down](https://thehill.com/homenews/4880163-2-ohio-hospitals-lock-down-due-to-bomb-threats/) after bomb threats, police said. Other threats received by Springfield officials have forced government buildings to close, two elementary schools to be evacuated and the students moved to a different location, and a middle school to shut down altogether. After Republican VP nominee JD Vance first began spreading baseless rumors about Haitians in Springfield, members of the neo-Nazi group “Blood Tribe” [marched](https://x.com/kate_ross_/status/1833724996750905566) into the city carrying guns, wearing body armor, and carrying Neo-Nazi flags. At a 27 August [town hall meeting](https://x.com/ZaidJilani/status/1833573103684759621), one claimed that the city had been taken over by “degenerate third worlders”, blamed Jewish people for the influx, and warned “crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you allow in.” Springfield’s Haitian immigrants say they are afraid. Some have kept their children [home from school](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/haitian-americans-fear-their-safety-after-trump-repeats-false-claims-about-2024-09-11/), fearing violence. Others have reported harassment on the street, in their cars, and at stores. A Springfield family whose son died last year when a car driven by a Haitian immigrant accidentally collided with a school bus has pleaded for Trump and Vance to stop using their deceased son for political purposes. Yet Trump and Vance are doubling down. On Sunday, before the attempt on Trump’s life, Vance [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/15/us/politics/jd-vance-springfield-pets.html) on CNN that the claims about Haitians eating the pets of Springfield residents came from “firsthand accounts from my constituents”. When interviewer Dana Bash suggested that the claims had caused bomb threats, Vance called her a “Democratic propagandist”. But the connection is indisputable. Rather than offhand comments, Trump’s and Vance’s claims are calculated. Trump’s last two posts on Truth Social before the debate were AI images of cats – one depicting cats in military fatigues carrying assault rifles and wearing Maga hats, the other showing the candidate himself sitting on a plane amid a crowd of ducks and cats. Trump is now talking about holding a rally in Springfield. “We’re going to get these people out,” Trump [said](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/14/trump-immigrants-haitian-venezuelan-springfield-aurora/) in a Friday news conference. Although Springfield’s Haitian immigrants are in the United States legally, he promised to stage “the largest deportation in the history of our country” if re-elected. Trump’s and Vance’s claims are completely bogus. Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, [told CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-dewine-haitian-migrants-pets-springfield-trump/) on Wednesday: “These Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs, and they filled a lot of jobs. And if you talk to employers, they’ve done a very, very good job and they work very, very hard.” Another of Trump’s bogus claims is now threatening legal immigrants in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb that Trump has repeatedly asserted is being “taken over” by Venezuelan criminals. “Simply not true”, Aurora’s Republican mayor and city council member [wrote in a joint statement](https://www.auroragov.org/news/whats_new/mayor__council_member_address_gang_concerns). As in Springfield, Trump’s baseless claims are harming innocent people in Aurora. Immigrants there [say](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/14/trump-immigrants-haitian-venezuelan-springfield-aurora/) they have been told their nationality makes them ineligible for jobs or housing. Trump’s claims have led to threats and drawn armed groups to the city, claiming to offer vigilante-style protection. Trump and Vance are using the oldest of tyrannical ploys – fueling deep-seated fears by creating an “other”, depicted as subhuman, who “take over” towns and “devour” loved ones. In Springfield, the loved ones are peoples’ pets. But how far is this bogus claim from vicious Nazi claims of Jewish people devouring children? Substitute “Jew” for “Haitian” in Springfield or for “Venezuelan” in Aurora, and you’re back to the Nazis of the 1930s. In demonizing and dehumanizing migrants, Trump and Vance are not just seeking to win over a few wavering voters across the nation or making a play for control of the Senate. They are trying to scare America into becoming a more fearsome, more racist nation. “They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump [said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKPFjAhd3KQ) of immigrants at a rally in New Hampshire eight months ago – virtually quoting Adolf Hitler, who wrote in Mein Kampf: “All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.” In a last-ditch effort to prevail in their campaign, Trump and Vance are encouraging the haters. On 10 September, Vance [told](https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/10/politics/jd-vance-haitian-immigrants/index.html) his followers to “keep the cat memes flowing”, notwithstanding that they were endangering people in his own state. Meanwhile, members of Trump’s social media war room – including Trump confidante Laura Loomer, known for sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Muslim, and antisemitic posts – are busily spreading AI-generated images of dogs and cats being protected by Trump, along with other content promoting the claim that pets are being eaten by Haitians. Let me repeat: there no justification whatsoever for violence or threats of violence in our democracy. While utterly despicable, Sunday’s second apparent assassination attempt on Trump can be seen as a symptom of the hate-filled politics that he and Vance are peddling. This must stop. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at [robertreich.substack.com](http://robertreich.substack.com/)

Does it even matter that the Haitian immigrants who have flocked to Springfield, [Ohio](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ohio), are in the country legally? Does it matter that Springfield, once a depressed post-industrial Rust belt town like so many others, has been [economically revitalized](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/neo-nazis-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants) by their arrival? Does it matter that the immigrants from Haiti fled violence and economic deprivation in their own country that are the outcome of American policy? Does it matter that none of the bizarre lies that have been peddled about them by [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump), [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance) and others on the right, telling lurid tales of the migrants [capturing and killing local pets](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/09/republicans-haitian-migrants-pets-wildlife-ohio), are true? But even though the stories are made up, the threats now facing Springfield’s population of roughly 80,000 souls are very real. After last week’s presidential debate, when [Trump railed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/trump-springfield-pets-false-claims) about how Haitians in Springfield were “eating the dogs, eating the cats … they’re eating the pets of the people that live there”, life has been transformed in Springfield. Ordinary life has yielded to a barrage of media attention, nationally broadcast lies and threats. Two elementary schools in Springfield had to be evacuated because of threats of violence. Think about that: someone contacted Springfield authorities and made threats against grade-school children that were credible enough that the [buildings had to be evacuated](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/17/bomb-threats-springfield-schools-highway-patrol) for the sake of safety. Classes at Wittenberg University in Springfield had to be held [online](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/16/us/springfield-ohio-closures-threats/index.html) because multiple threats of violence targeting Haitian students and staff there – including a bomb threat and a mass shooting threat – were deemed credible. Two hospitals in the town, Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health, had to go into [lockdown after receiving threats](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/more-bomb-threats-hit-springfield-ohio-after-trump-elevates-false-claims-about-haitians). [Government buildings](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/12/springfield-ohio-city-hall-bomb-threat) in the city also had to be closed. Haitian immigrants in Springfield [told](https://haitiantimes.com/2024/09/11/haitian-immigrants-in-ohio-under-racist-attacks/) news outlets that they were afraid to leave their homes. There were reports of broken windows and acid thrown on cars. There is a word for this kind of large-scale, organized violence against a local ethnic enclave. That word is pogrom. There was a time, earlier in Trump’s political career, when pundits liked to issue chin-scratching missives about the mutability of truth: about how Trump could spin outright fabrications into vehicles for white or male grievance, and about how shockingly little it mattered when his stories were revealed to be lies. Now, the thoroughly Trumpified Republican party has all but dispensed with the pretext of honesty, instead embracing an avowed sense that the factual truth is actually irrelevant. > This blood libel against a small migrant community in the midwest has turned attention back to Trump. That may be all he really wants In an interview with CNN, Vance, who was instrumental in amplifying the lies about Springfield’s Haitian population, seemed to concede that he knew the stories of immigrants eating pets were false. “[If I have to create stories](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lies-haitian-immigrants) so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the vice-presidential candidate said. The suffering of the people of Springfield, apparently, is not his concern. The episode is typical of Trump’s cynical cycle, one which the rightwing media and his many Republican imitators have almost perfected over the course of the past decade: an outrageous lie is told that provides cover for a racist resentment among Trump’s supporters – and, more importantly, gins up attention for Trump himself. Because the lie is fabricated and because it has no basis in reality, it can exist entirely at the level of fantasy and projection: lurid tales of pet-eating are not true, but because they can’t be proven or disproven, they can propel days’ worth of imaginings, condemnations, hoaxes and frantic factchecking by the media class. That this particular lie evokes longstanding racist imaginations of Black people as brutal and bestial – something more akin to coyotes than to hardworking small-town families – it reaffirms Trump’s particular appeal to the white Republican id. Trump, meanwhile, uses this vulgarity to monopolize the news cycle. Real people pay the price somewhere off camera, while he [repeats his libels](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/13/trump-repeats-lies-haitian-immigrants) into a microphone. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/18/springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants#EmailSignup-skip-link-9) Sign up to The Stakes — US Election Edition The Guardian guides you through the chaos of a hugely consequential presidential election **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Those microphones may be part of the point. One of the great lessons of the past month, as [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket and took on a more mocking and dismissive [approach](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/29/kamala-harris-campaign-high-road) to Trump and his brand of politics, is that Trump’s entertainment value is a bit like Samson’s hair. When Trump is not getting attention – be it negative, outraged, adulatory or prurient – he is desperate, useless, like a fish out of water. The debate last week was a disaster for Trump: he was belittled, humiliated, made to seem peevish, petty, pathetic and incompetent by the woman who now [leads him in most polls.](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/aug/23/presidential-polls-kamala-harris-donald-trump-election) But this blood libel against a small migrant community in the midwest has turned the attention back to him. That may be all he really wants. Trump’s theory of politics, after all, has always been wildly consistent: he only feels like he’s winning when everyone is looking his way. * Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

In recent weeks, racist conspiracy theories about immigrants have dominated the election cycle. High-ranking [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) have doubled down on unsubstantiated rumors about Black and brown migrants, tapping into anxieties that immigrants are responsible for increased crime in US cities. During last week’s presidential debate, [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) echoed a baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” the Republican nominee said. And in response to a question about high costs of living, Trump alluded to viral rumors that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were taking over a [Colorado](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/colorado) apartment complex. “You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.” [Both](https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2024/09/11/aurora-venezuelan-gang-arrests-mike-coffman-danielle-jurinsky) [claims](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-just-exploded-springfield-woman-says-never-meant-spark-rumors-haitian-rcna171099) are completely untrue. Experts argue that the spread of such disinformation amplifies existing xenophobic beliefs within the American psyche as a means of political gain. “It’s so dangerous when people with a platform are repeating these very fabricated rumors,” said Gladis Ibarra, co-executive director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “These are very much part of a large coordinated strategy to continue to demonize our immigrant neighbors. It’s undermining the values of our nation and historically what people have said this nation stands for.” Misinformation (inaccurate information that is spread unknowingly) and disinformation (false information that is meant to mislead) are widely shared via social media platforms, despite a push for fact checking and accuracy since the 2016 presidential election. The phenomenon of inaccurate news still occurs at alarming rates as people’s online algorithms are largely driven by their political biases, according to Jeffrey Layne Blevins, a journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati. “\[The algorithm\] is merely designed to keep users engaged,” Blevins said, referring to metrics such as how long a person looks at content or shares it in their feed. “And what tends to engage most people? Things that outrage them or piss them off.” Blevins added that rightwing figures share disinformation in hopes of “outraging people on the political right”, especially during an election cycle. Such content is accepted as truth by those online who already share rightwing beliefs themselves. “It creates an echo chamber of sorts,” he said. “When public figures who share your political beliefs post content like this – people are more likely to accept it at face value.” [Republicans](https://thehill.com/latino/4707821-abbott-texas-immigrants-biden-southern-border-executive-order/) at [all levels](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-violent-crime-trump-republican-convention-bd40d14546bc7eb9a1dbbadfcb190950) of [government](https://www.opb.org/article/2024/05/09/migrant-crime-is-politically-charged-but-the-reality-is-more-complicated/) have linked immigrants to instances of violent crime, including drug smuggling and assault. During his campaign for the 2016 presidential election, Trump claimed Mexicans crossing the US southern border were “rapists”, “bringing drugs, bringing crime”. He began the construction of a wall along the border – among other anti-immigrant policies – [to deter](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/16/theyre-rapists-presidents-trump-campaign-launch-speech-two-years-later-annotated/) “large sacks of drugs \[from being thrown\] over”. During this election cycle, Trump has said that undocumented people are “[animals](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-expected-highlight-murder-michigan-woman-immigration-speech-2024-04-02/)” who are “poisoning the blood of our country”, despite immigrants being significantly [less likely](https://www.nber.org/papers/w31440) to commit crimes than US-born citizens. The demonization of immigrants is a repeated move by lawmakers to secure votes, said Germán Cadenas, an associate professor at Rutgers University who specializes in the psychology of immigration. “Immigration is really not as divisive as some politicians are trying to make it out to be,” he said, as 64% of Americans believe immigration [is beneficial](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1660/immigration.aspx) for the country. “It’s a tactic that has been used historically to mobilize voters who feel threatened.” For centuries, Cadenas said, politicians built policy around the stereotype that immigrants are a “threat” to US identity and safety. Anti-immigration laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1924 Immigration Act were among the first to curtail US immigration based on nationality. The Chinese Exclusion Act came largely after high-ranking union members [warned](https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5046) of a “[Chinese invasion](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/trump-immigrant-invasion-language-origins/595579/)” that would steal white, American jobs. Similarly, US senators [advised](https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5080?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) their fellow legislators to “shut the door” on immigrants as a migrating population would “encroach upon the reserve and virgin resources” of the US, before the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act. Fast forward to the early 2000s, as states such as [Arizona](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/apr/24/arizona-immigration-law-supreme-court) passed laws allowing local law enforcement to target anyone they believed was in the country without documentation. Arizona Republicans [called](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/25/jd-hayworth-arizona-immigration-anger) arriving undocumented people an “invasion that must be stopped” and a “national security threat”, a political tactic to encourage support of the controversial bill. Politicians also attempt to etch out a voting bloc by passing anti-immigrant policies. “Historically, these stereotypes, these falsehoods, have \[then\] been used to mobilize voters to elect policymakers who are going to make anti-immigrant laws and policies.” [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/trump-republicans-springfield-aurora-political-disinformation#EmailSignup-skip-link-14) Sign up to The Stakes — US Election Edition The Guardian guides you through the chaos of a hugely consequential presidential election **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Even as most Americans have a positive view of 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 most susceptible to the core stereotype of Latino immigrants being a threat. “The anti-immigrant rhetoric is less about convincing than about amplifying and strengthening beliefs that are already held,” Cadenas said. “It takes large efforts to unlearn these problematic beliefs and biases.” Disinformation about immigrants has consequences, Cadenas and Ibarra said. “Across the nation, a number of states have an ‘anti-immigrant policy climate’,” Cadenas said, meaning those states pass laws that make the lives of immigrants harder. “A small minority of folks who are threatened by immigration are electing policymakers who are crafting policies that are negative towards immigrants,” he added “These policies trickle down to housing. They trickle down to the way that authorities deal with immigration at the local level. These policies trickle down to healthcare and the kinds of access to health and mental health that immigrants have.” In Aurora, Venezuelan residents of the aforementioned apartment complex have said they feel unsafe after the rumors of a gang takeover and they fear being stereotyped as criminals. Springfield has received more than 33 bomb threats since Trump’s statements at the debate. Its city hall [was evacuated](https://www.axios.com/2024/09/16/fbi-springfield-ohio-threats-haitian-wittenberg-university), along with some local schools. Springfield hospitals [are also on alert](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/more-bomb-threats-hit-springfield-ohio-after-trump-elevates-false-claims-about-haitians), and Haitian immigrants say they have received several threats. “People that are hardworking, contributing to our communities, are not the danger, Ibarra said. “The danger is all of these violent ideologies that are being fueled by the people that repeat these lies, by the people that go on social media and on TV and continue to repeat them.”

During his debate with [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) on 10 September, [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) proffered the [outrageous lie](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/trump-springfield-pets-false-claims) that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating residents’ pets. He wasn’t alone in promoting this little bigoted nugget, either. Earlier that day on X, formerly known as Twitter, [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance), the Republican candidate for vice-president, had already [pushed](https://x.com/JDVance/status/1833148904864465117) the idea that Springfield’s residents “have had their pets abducted and eaten” by “Haitian illegal immigrants”. Vance subsequently [tripled down](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/17/jd-vance-wisconsin-rally-immigrants-media) on the falsehood, even [later admitting](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lies-haitian-immigrants) to CNN: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Behold, the political lie. We’re not talking about spin, which bends the truth to something usable. We’re dealing with an outright fabrication. None of what Trump and Vance are saying about the Haitian community is true. Not a single bit of it. The Haitian community of Springfield is there because its members have been granted temporary protected status, a US government program that allows them to live and work legally in the United States for a defined period of time. And none of them have been known to eat your pets. But there is something almost refreshing in Vance’s moment of honesty about his own dishonesty. In an era where cynicism prevails, it feels almost naive to believe in something, and Vance and Trump are showing us they do believe! But what they believe in is the power of spreading the most shocking, contemptible and brazen lies possible to secure their political victory. What’s a little lie, after all, if it helps their cause? Or, as Vance [put it](https://x.com/JDVance/status/1833506757534175484) on X: “don’t let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots. Keep the cat memes flowing.” The luxury of the political lie, however, is that the tellers of the lie never have to live directly with the consequences of their actions. But others do. On 12 September, Springfield’s city hall was [forced to close](https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-city-hall-evacuated-due-to-unspecified-threat/LEJGCXXHZRHT3HH3HYHABRZGT4/) because of a bomb threat, and all Clark county buildings, including the offices of the department of job and family services, the common pleas court, and the board of elections, were similarly closed “out of an abundance of caution”. By Friday, four other schools had been [evacuated](https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/4-days-of-threats-in-springfield-what-happened-after-viral-post-claimed-haitian-immigrants-were-eating-pets) due to bomb threats, which similarly emptied the bureau of motor vehicles and the Ohio Southside license bureau. Then, on Saturday, two hospitals, the Springfield regional medical center and the Kettering Health Springfield medical center, were also forced into lockdown. By Sunday, Springfield’s Clark State College received emailed threats of violence and subsequently moved all its classes online for a week due. The local Wittenberg University was also threatened with a mass shooting, forcing it to cancel all its events on Sunday and move classes online for Monday. When Monday rolled around, two more of Springfield’s elementary schools, the Simon Kenton elementary school and Kenwood elementary school, [also had to be evacuated](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/09/16/springfield-ohio-elementary-schools-evacuated-following-more-threats/75251183007/) “based on information received from the Springfield Police Division”, the Springfield city school district [announced](https://www.koat.com/article/springfield-ohio-troopers-schools-immigrants/62238376). The city of Springfield also [axed its](https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-cancels-culturefest-citing-safety-concerns-due-to-threats/DRIWTZSROVCW7OEOTU6TGWQ4LY/) CultureFest, the city’s annual celebration of diversity. At a press conference, Mike DeWine, the Republican governor of Ohio, announced that he is deploying the Ohio state highway patrol to schools in Springfield after they received nearly three dozen bomb threats since late last week. Fox News and Trump’s partisans on the media responded to this harrowing turn of events by [emphasizing](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-governor-contradicts-democrat-narrative-damning-revelation-bomb-threat-hoaxes-springfield) something that DeWine said during his press conference. The bomb threats had thus far (thankfully) been hoaxes, and many of them seemed to originate abroad. “We have people, unfortunately, overseas who are taking these actions,” the governor [said](https://www.koat.com/article/springfield-ohio-troopers-schools-immigrants/62238376). What Trump’s supporters fail to mention is that Trump and Vance created the conditions for these hoaxes to happen in the first place. But, true to form, it seems they would rather blame shadowy foreigners instead. You can’t blame foreigners for the [arrival](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/neo-nazis-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants) of armed neo-Nazi members of the Blood Tribe, an extremist North American white supremacist group that marched through Springfield in August while carrying swastika-emblazoned flags. You can’t blame foreigners for a member of the Blood Tribe [addressing](https://www.youtube.com/live/VL4JXoFcJQI?t=5026s) a Springfield city commission meeting days later, telling Rob Rue, Springfield’s mayor: “I’ve come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late. Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in.” You can’t blame folks overseas for the fact that Springfield’s Haitian church has been [vandalized](https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/12/12/how-a-childs-death-caused-an-ohio-city-to-turn-on-its-haitian-community) twice in one month. You can’t blame foreigners for the increased racism that many Haitians are [reporting](https://haitiantimes.com/2024/09/11/haitian-immigrants-in-ohio-under-racist-attacks/). Springfield’s already vulnerable Haitian community (particularly after a [tragic traffic accident](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/11/trump-vance-ohio-aiden-clark) in August that left an 11-year-old boy dead) is now living on a razor’s edge. Fleeing Haiti for their lives, members of his community currently live as if their “temporary protected status” has been summarily taken away from them while they live in the United States, where they are supposed to be safe. Meanwhile, the work they perform sustains the Springfield’s businesses and can be felt far beyond. Springfield’s Haitians are [legally employed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/neo-nazis-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants) in local [microchip manufacturing](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/us/springfield-ohio-school-bus-crash-haiti-immigrants.html) and [Amazon fulfillment](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/haitian-immigrants-fueled-springfields-growth-now-us-presidential-debate-2024-09-11/) centers. Your Toyota may have an axle [fabricated](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/us/springfield-ohio-school-bus-crash-haiti-immigrants.html) at the hands of a member of this community, and that salad you’re eating may have been packaged by them at a Dole Fresh Vegetables in Springfield. Springfield has seen a substantial increase in Haitian immigration in recent years. A city of 58,000 is [hosting](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/15/politics/vance-immigrants-pets-springfield-ohio-cnntv/index.html) 12,000 to 15,000 newcomers. That puts pressure on city services while also adding to the city’s tax revenue. Time and proper planning can pave a path of prosperity forward for everyone. On the other hand, a new Black population moving into a largely white town is a huge temptation to those who want to stoke division. It looks like a windfall. Spin a lie about immigrants and their barbarism and you get to hate on Democrats, the media and immigrants, simultaneously. But at the heart of it is a lie, a cowardly invention that you knowingly want others to promote. That basic fact ought to reveal the salient truth of today’s political lie. If Trump and Vance can’t take responsibility for their actions now, why would anyone think they could take responsibility for the country later? * Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non-profit organization that “provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal and social services”, [filed criminal charges](https://www.chandralaw.com/files/assets/2024-09-24-bench-memo-and-guerline-jozef-of-haitian-bridge-alliance-affidavit-re-trump-vance-and-springfield.pdf) against Donald Trump and JD Vance over their inflammatory, racist remarks about Haitian immigrants. The rhetoric has led to threats of violence in Springfield, Ohio, including more than 30 bomb threats, forced evacuations of schools and government buildings and [violence against Haitians in the city](https://haitiantimes.com/2024/09/11/haitian-immigrants-in-ohio-under-racist-attacks/). The filing comes after both the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate made false statements about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, alleging that they were stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets. The charges include disrupting public services, making false alarms, two counts of telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing, and complicity. Ohio law allows the public to file criminal charges in the same way a prosecutor would. In this case, the Haitian Bridge Alliance is asking the Clark county municipal court to affirm that there is probable cause that Trump and Vance committed the crimes, and to issue arrest warrants for them both. “Trump and Vance have knowingly spread a false and dangerous narrative by claiming that Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community is criminally killing and eating neighbors’ dogs and cats, and killing and eating geese,” the affidavit reads. “They accused Springfield’s Haitians of bearing deadly disease. They repeated such lies during the presidential debate, at campaign rallies, during interviews on national television, and on social media.” Trump continued perpetuating the statements even after they had been [confirmed to be false](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pushes-false-claim-haitian-migrants-stealing-eating/story?id=113570407), while Vance recently remarked that he was [willing to “create stories”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lies-haitian-immigrants) for political gain. They continued to repeat what the filing calls an “orchestrated … campaign of lies” that “spread a false narrative that Haitians in Springfield are a danger”. “Many public institutions have been forced to evacuate, and vital local resources were diverted to investigate the barrage of threats to the community,” the filing reads. Despite the public nature of Trump and Vance’s claims, local prosecutors have failed to take any action. But because the criminal charges were filed by citizens, a prosecuting attorney will be obligated to make a public decision. Trump and Vance, the US senator from Ohio, have indicated that they may travel to Springfield. The filing asks the court to make a decision prior to their arrival. “This should be done before Trump fulfills his threat to visit Springfield – despite Mayor Rob Rue’s request that he not do so – so that he may be arrested upon arrival for his criminal acts,” the affidavit reads.

Donald Trump spoke on Saturday in the battleground state of Wisconsin, escalating his anti-immigrant rhetoric and taking his personal insults against [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) up a notch. Trump’s speech in the small community of Prairie du Chien, where a Venezuelan in the US illegally was detained in September for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and attacking her daughter, was unusually devoted almost entirely to undocumented immigrants. He wrongfully claimed that immigrants in the US are violent criminals, referring to them as “stone-cold killers”, “monsters” and “vile animals”. The Republican presidential candidate was flanked by posters of immigrants in the US illegally who have been arrested for murder and other violent crimes, and banners saying “End Migrant Crime” and “Deport Illegals Now”. Trump is locked in a close race with Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate and vice-president, before the 5 November election. Immigration at the southern border are one of the top issues for voters, according to opinion polls. Trump attacked Harris, who on Friday visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign, calling her “mentally impaired” and “mentally disabled”. The former president blamed Harris and Joe Biden for allowing undocumented immigrants into the US, accusing some immigrants of wanting to “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America”. At one point Trump admitted: “This is a dark speech.” “There’s no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation right through your border, no matter what lies she tells,” he said. “Kamala Harris can never be forgiven for her erasing our border, and she must never be allowed to become president of the United States and [Wisconsin](https://www.theguardian.com/world/wisconsin),” he added. A video intending to attack Kamala Harris was shown in the middle of Trump’s remarks. It was a compilation of Harris’s comments about immigration policy. “She is a disaster, and she’s not going to ever do anything for the border,” he said after the video. “She’s incompetent and a bad person.” “She’s a Marxist,” he added. JD Vance continued the attacks on Harris in a speech in Newton, Pennsylvania, taking the former president’s lead and making sure to continue the anti-immigrant claims. “The problem with Kamala Harris is that she’s got no substance,” Trump’s running mate said. “The problem with Kamala Harris is that she’s got no plan. And the problem with Kamala Harris is that she has been the vice-president for three-and-a-half years and has failed this country.” Vance claimed without proof that Harris played a role in worsening the economy by exacerbating inflation, then went on to link the country’s economic woes to immigration, blaming Harris for what he describes as an “invasion” amid a lack of border control. Vance claimed that the presence of immigrants in the US is contributing to rising housing costs. Some 7 million immigrants have been arrested crossing the US-Mexico border illegally during Biden’s administration, according to government data, a record high number that has fueled criticism of Harris and Biden from Trump and fellow Republicans. In her visit to the border on Friday, Harris outlined her plans to fix “our broken immigration system” while accusing Trump of “fanning the flames of fear and division” over the impact of immigrants on American life. Harris also called for tighter asylum restrictions and vowed to make a “top priority” of stopping fentanyl from entering the US. Before wrapping up his speech, Trump called to the stage the mother of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old Maryland mother of five who was killed last year. After Rachel’s death, a native of El Salvador was arrested. Trump has used this case to support his remarks against immigrants from Central America living in the US. Studies generally find there is no evidence immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans and critics say Trump’s rhetoric reinforces racist tropes. Trump’s opponents accuse him of cynically exploiting grieving families to fuel his narrative that foreign-born, often Hispanic, arrivals are part of an invading army. But some of the families of the victims have welcomed Trump’s focus on the issue of violent crime and the death toll of teenagers caused by the opioid drug fentanyl, much of which crosses into the US over the southern border.

[Tim Walz](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/tim-walz) and [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance) faced each other for the first and only vice-presidential debate of this election cycle – and clashed on issues including abortion, childcare, the cost of living and Trump’s 2020 election claims. Here are the facts on some of the false or misleading claims offered during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate. Vance attacked Harris’s record on the border. “The only thing that she did when she became the vice-president, when she became the appointed border tsar, was to undo [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) executive actions that opened the border,” he said. This contains inaccuracies. First, Harris was never a “border tsar” – that’s a term invented by her critics. She had a role in the Biden administration to look into addressing the root causes of migration to the US, including safety and economic turmoil in Central American countries. Second, she did not “undo [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) executive actions”. Presidents sign executive orders, and she was not president. [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) did reverse some Trump executive orders on the border. He initially kept in place Trump-era restrictions known as [Title 42](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/11/what-is-title-42-explainer-immigration), which allowed the US to turn away immigrants at the border on the grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19, before eventually lifting them. **Vance on Trump’s role on January 6** -------------------------------------- Vance defended Trump’s role on the day of the insurrection at the US Capitol. The Ohio senator picked out one line of his running mate’s speech on [6 January 2021](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-capitol-breach) – prior to the insurrection. According to Vance, Trump “said on January 6 the protesters ought to protest peacefully”. But Trump also repeatedly encouraged supporters to “fight”. “We fight like hell. And if you don’t [fight like hell](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/02/trump-capitol-riot-powder-keg-impeachment-prosecutors), you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said in 2021. **Vance on Trump and the Affordable Care Act** ---------------------------------------------- Vance claimed that [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) bolstered or salvaged the Affordable Care Act. That’s not true. The former president cut millions in funding for helping people enroll in healthcare, repeatedly supported efforts in Congress to repeal the law and asked the [supreme court](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-supreme-court) to overturn the law. **Vance on immigrants and housing prices** ------------------------------------------ Vance twice implicated immigrants in driving up housing prices, though when pressed, agreed that immigration was not the “only” contributor. A nonpartisan analysis found that [Trump’s vow of mass deportation](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03/trump-mass-deportations-detention-camps-military-migrants) would drive up prices in several sectors and affect the availability of labor. The Peterson Institute for International Economics projects that the policy would be “a major shock to the US economy, with substantial disruption across all sectors, especially agriculture, mining, and manufacturing”. **Vance on Trump’s position on abortion** ----------------------------------------- Vance said that Donald Trump has supported states making their own abortion laws. Vance claimed that Trump has said that “the proper way to handle this … is to let voters make these decisions, let the individual states make their abortion policy”. That’s not quite right. Donald Trump [declined to say](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/11/trump-harris-presidential-debate) whether he would sign a national abortion ban during the last debate. **Walz on Project 2025’s ambitions** ------------------------------------ The Minnesota governor claimed that Project 2025, the ambitious blueprint from the Heritage Foundation to remake the federal government under a second Trump term, would require people to register their pregnancies. “Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies,” Walz said. That claim is false. Project 2025 calls for a number of [restrictive policies on abortion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/05/project-2025-abortion), including reversing FDA approval of abortion pills, rolling back privacy protections for abortion patients and increasing surveillance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over abortion, but it does not call for all pregnant people to register. The CDC already collects information about abortion from most of the country, but its reports are incomplete, as some states do not supply the data. Project 2025 suggests that the CDC should go so far as to cut funds from a state if it does not tell the CDC “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method”. **Vance on immigrants in Springfield, Ohio** -------------------------------------------- Referring to [Springfield, Ohio](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/30/springfield-ohio-republicans-haitian-immigrants-lies) – where a number of Haitian immigrants have recently settled – Vance referred to immigrants with legal status as “illegal”. “You’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that’s totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans,” he said. The [Haitian immigrants in Springfield](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/neo-nazis-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants), as CBS moderator Margaret Brennan noted, have legal status. Their arrival, local residents and leaders have said, has helped revive the town, which has lost a quarter of its population since the 1960s. **Vance on the climate crisis** **and manufacturing** ----------------------------------------------------- The Ohio senator has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the reality that carbon emissions have caused global heating. Tonight, he was a bit subtle: “One of the things that I’ve noticed some of our Democratic friends talking a lot about is a concern about carbon emissions, this idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change … let’s just say that’s true, just for the sake of argument.” Despite Vance’s skepticism, it is indeed true. [One hundred percent](https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-scientists-think-100-of-global-warming-is-due-to-humans/) of global heating since 1950 is due to human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Vance also took viewers on a circuitous journey to suggest that if [Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) really cared about [the climate crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-crisis), she would bring back manufacturing jobs to the US. Carbon emissions, whether they are manufactured in the US or overseas, contribute to global heating. The [Inflation Reduction Act](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/11/biden-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act) of 2022 – the Biden administration’s landmark climate legislation – is greatly aimed at incentivizing domestic manufacturing. **Read more about the 2024 US election:**

NEW YORK -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday suggested that migrants who are in the U.S. and have committed murder did so because “it’s in their genes.” There are, he added, “a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” It’s the latest example of Trump alleging that immigrants are changing the hereditary makeup of the U.S. Last year, he evoked language [once used by Adolf Hitler](https://apnews.com/article/trump-hitler-poison-blood-history-f8c3ff512edd120252596a4743324352) to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country." Trump made the comments Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He was criticizing his Democratic opponent for the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he pivoted to immigration, citing [statistics](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-crime-border-detention-biden-trump-fc19e795599471c0ab21d76050a71a74) that the Department of Homeland Security says include cases from his administration. “How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person," Trump said. “And they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer — I believe this: it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.” Trump's campaign said his comments regarding genes were about murderers. “He was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [released immigration enforcement data to](https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/24-01143-ICEs-Signed-Response-to-Representative-Tony-Gonzales.pdf) Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales last month about the people under its supervision, including those not in ICE custody. That included 13,099 people who were found guilty of homicide and 425,431 people who are convicted criminals. But those numbers span decades, including during Trump’s administration. And those who are not in ICE custody may be detained by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The Harris campaign declined to comment. Asked during her briefing with reporters on Monday about Trump’s “bad genes” comment, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “That type of language, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate, it has no place in our country.” The Biden administration [has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants](https://apnews.com/article/biden-asylum-migration-immigration-mexico-border-1241e365e68f8b6f7031c6ba4279bfac), and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, [has worked to project a tougher stance](https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-donald-trump-border-arizona-4a87c6f3b2df1736aa226bc620f51b89) on immigration. The former president and Republican nominee has made illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history if elected. He has a long history of comments maligning immigrants, including referring to them as “animals" and “killers," and saying that they spread diseases. Last month, during his debate with Harris, Trump [falsely claimed](https://apnews.com/article/haitian-immigrants-vance-trump-ohio-6e4a47c52b23ae2c802d216369512ca5) Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets. As president, he questioned why the U.S. [was accepting immigrants](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-international-news-fdda2ff0b877416c8ae1c1a77a3cc425) from Haiti and Africa rather than Norway and [told](https://apnews.com/article/728ada1e918a482c9e9b1f3e24937caa) four congresswomen, all people of color and three of whom were born in the U.S., to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” \_\_\_ Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Late-night hosts looked back at [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s most recent, unhinged rallies and at the damage that some of his more harmful comments have had. **Jimmy Kimmel** ---------------- On [Jimmy Kimmel](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/jimmy-kimmel) Live!, the host said that it “feels like the longest election campaign of all time” with just a few weeks left. He joked that we are now in the “somebody please put Trump in a home stretch”. Kimmel said that at this stage “it’s hard to believe that anybody is going along with” the former president given his recent behaviour. Trump [recently visited Aurora, Colorado](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/trump-aurora-colorado-migrant-crackdown), a city he has demonised by claiming that Venezuelan immigrants have turned it into a war zone. He visited to “double down on his thoroughly debunked claims”. Kimmel said that his latest round of fearmongering over immigrants should cause an update of his slogan to “make America Germany in the 1930s again”. Trump has referred to immigrants as criminals and rapists and as Kimmel said, “that’s a man who knows rapists”. He has also been calling his opponent [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) a range of vile things, including [mentally disabled](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/29/trump-republicans-mentally-disabled-comments-harris) and, according to a New York Times report, retarded. “When they go low, they go really low,” he said. In response to Trump being called a fascist, Kimmel added: “When is he gonna grow that little moustache already? There’s only three weeks left.” Trump has recently doubled his support among Black men which led to him rambling at rallies about how much he loves Black men, “as long as they don’t try and live in one of my buildings”, added Kimmel. **Stephen Colbert** ------------------- On The Late Show, [Stephen Colbert](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/stephen-colbert) started by talking about the [medical report](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/12/kamala-harris-to-release-health-report-saying-she-is-fit-for-presidency-aide) that showed Harris to be in excellent health. “It’s great that just the words excellent health kinda feel like a dig at Donald Trump,” he joked. Trump has refused to undergo the same exam, which led Harris to claim at a recent rally that the reason was that he was “too weak and unstable to lead America”. Colbert replied “yeah probably” and then added: “Or hear me out, it’s possible they just can’t find a doctor who is willing to do the exam.” At 78, Trump is the oldest man ever nominated by a major party. This past weekend saw Trump decide to [criticise Detroit](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/10/trump-calls-detroit-michigan-mess) while speaking to an audience in Detroit. “It’s a pretty weird strategy to dunk on your host’s city,” he said. Colbert said that Trump had been telling “a lot of lies about a lot of things” including the conspiracy theories about Venezuelan immigrants in Aurora. He said that Trump went to Aurora “so he could threaten immigrants to their face”. He also criticised him for “spreading vicious lies about Fema” during the two recent hurricanes and called his input “dumb, unhelpful and dangerous”.

Donald Trump is so dependent on racial and ethnic antagonism that without it, he would be a marginal figure, relegated to the sidelines. Trump’s constant demonization of Black people and immigrants has inured the public to the fact that he is the first — or certainly the most explicit — modern president and party nominee to transparently generate, not to mention exacerbate, fear and white animosity toward people of color. Despite his appeal to a small if potentially crucial segment of Black and Hispanic men, racial bigotry has been central to Trump’s appeal from his initial quest, in 2015 and 2016, to take over the Republican Party. In the closing days of the 2024 election, he continues to foment race hatred and to rely on it ever more intently. The 2018 book “[Identity Crisis](https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691196435/identity-crisis?srsltid=AfmBOoonX7nMSNkuEb4v34Dz4_Jb-2zTPpGS1RY4HXl_0e_7lzepRUBO): The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America,” by the political scientists [John Sides](https://johnsides.org/), [Michael Tesler](https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/mtesler/) and [Lynn Vavreck](https://polisci.ucla.edu/person/lynn-vavreck/), documented the success of Trump’s strategy. “Trump was distinctive in how he tapped into white grievance,” they wrote. “Trump’s primary campaign became a vehicle for a different kind of identity politics” — one oriented toward capitalizing on the feeling of many white people that they were being “pushed aside in an increasingly diverse America.” Trump crushed his primary opponents by magnifying and mobilizing the racial resentment and bitter discontent endemic in the Republican electorate. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F16%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-racism-immigrants.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F16%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-racism-immigrants.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F16%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-racism-immigrants.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F10%2F16%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-racism-immigrants.html).

Donald Trump – who has built his presidential campaign on the idea that immigrants are “destroying” the US and promoting mass deportation – faced blunt, tough questions from undecided Hispanic voters on Tuesday. At a town hall hosted by Univision, the largest US Spanish-language network, several dozen Latino voters from across the country questioned the former president about immigration, as well as the economy, abortion and other key issues. The Republican presidential candidate – who has been increasingly trying to court Latino voters – struggled to field specific questions about policy, even as he doubled down on misinformation about immigration. [ Where do Harris and Trump stand on the key election issues? ](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/14/election-harris-trump-issues-policies) [Polls have indicated that Trump is making inroads](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/01/trump-biden-latino-voters-poll) with Hispanic voters, who – like multiple other demographic groups – say they favour the former president on economic issues. [Latino voters are an increasingly important voting bloc](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/15/kamala-harris-latino-voters) in several swing states. At the town hall, in front of 100 voters, Trump did not mention his plans to order the largest mass deportation in US history. He also dodged or dismissed tough questions about his rhetoric and policies concerning immigrants. When a voter, who mentioned he was a registered Republican, asked why Trump keeps repeating the debunked myth that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Trump doubled down. “I was just saying what was reported,” Trump said – adding that migrants were “eating other things too, that they’re not supposed to”. Guadalupe Ramirez, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, asked Trump for more details about his proposals and asked why he had urged legislators to vote against a bipartisan immigration reform bill. Trump provided no details, but instead criticised Democratic leaders, including the governor of Illinois, alleging that migrants were driving up crime, and boasted that he had the “strongest border”. When Jorge Velázquez, a California farmworker, asked bluntly who would do the backbreaking labor of harvesting America’s fruit if Trump were to deport the many undocumented workers who currently do the job, the former president dodged. He accused newer immigrants of stealing jobs from Hispanic people in the US, and characterised migrants – as he often does – as “hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers and terrorists”. “We have to have people that are great people come into our country,” he said. “I want them in even more than you do.” But he never directly addressed deportations. During her town hall with Univision, [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/16/kamala-harris-fox-news-interview) highlighted her policies to address inflation and protect abortion rights. [She also warned](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/17/kamala-harris-fox-news-interview-key-takeaways) that her opponent was sowing misinformation and division. “I know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us, and part of what pains me is the approach that frankly Donald Trump and some others have taken, which is to suggest that it’s us versus them … and having Americans point fingers at each other, using language that’s belittling people,” she said. “I don’t think that’s healthy for our nation, and I don’t admire that.”

* Trump was asked who would do hard farm labor if his plans to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally were acted upon - and how that would impact food prices. He was asked the question by Jorge Velásquez, a farm worker who said most people doing such jobs were undocumented. The former president dodged the question and repeated false claims about immigrants coming from countries that were “emptying out” jails and “mental institutions”. “We want workers, and we want them to come in, but they have to come in legally, and they have to love our country,” the Trump said during the event. He said that the Biden-Harris administration had “totally lost control”. * Trump stood by debunked claims that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets, telling Latino voters at the town hall that he was “just saying what was reported.” Trump in recent weeks has amplified a [false claim that has gone viral](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/trump-springfield-pets-false-claims) that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing residents’ pets or taking wildlife from parks for food. There have been no credible reports of Haitians eating pets, and officials in Ohio, including Republicans, have repeatedly said the story is untrue. An undecided Latino Republican voter from Arizona, a battleground state, asked Trump whether he truly believed that immigrants were eating pets. “I was just saying what was reported. All I do is report,” Trump replied. “I was there, I’m going to be there and we’re going to take a look.” Trump added that “newspapers” had also reported on the claim, without naming any or providing any details. Trump, who has not yet travelled to Springfield, has previously said he would conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city, even though the majority of them are in the US legally. The city has faced bomb threats since Trump began repeating the false accusations about Haitians. * The event also featured questions about the 6 January siege of the US Capitol by Trump supporters, who breached the building in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. “Your own vice-president doesn’t want to support you now,” said Ramiro Gonzalez, of Tampa, Florida, a Republican who said he was no longer registered with the party but wanted to give Trump the chance to win him back. Gonzalez was referring to former vice-president Mike Pence, who has disavowed Trump in light of the 6 January attack. Trump responded: “Hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election. That’s why they came.” “That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions,” Trump told Gonzalez. * Trump was asked to name three virtues possessed by Harris, which he did, before again attacking her. He said that “she seems to have an ability to survive”, that “she seems to have some pretty longtime friendships” and that “she seems to have a nice way about her”. “I mean, I like the way some of her statements, some of her – the way she behaves, in a certain way. But in another way, I think it’s very bad for our country,” he said. Harris was asked a similar question at her town hall with the network last week. She offered, “I think Donald Trump loves his family and I think that’s very important,” only to continue, “But I don’t really know him. I only met him one time … so I don’t really have much more to offer you.”

A new poll has revealed that more than one-third of Americans agree with [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s warning that undocumented immigrants in the US are “poisoning the blood” of America. A significant 34% of the respondents to the [poll](https://x.com/BrookingsGov/status/1846559080199966723), conducted by the Brookings Institution and Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), agreed with the statement previously made on the election campaign trail by the former US president and Republican party nominee for the White House, Donald Trump. “One-third of Americans (34%) say that immigrants entering the country illegally today are ‘poisoning the blood of our country’, including six in 10 Republicans (61%), 30% of independents, and only 13% of Democrats,” a summary of the annual [poll](https://www.prri.org/research/challenges-to-democracy-the-2024-election-in-focus-findings-from-the-2024-american-values-survey/) stated, which surveyed more than 5,000 individuals from 16 August to 4 September. “This is a truly alarming situation to find this kind of rhetoric, find this kind of support from one of our two major political parties,” said Robert Jones, president and founder of the PRRI, during a [presentation](https://www.brookings.edu/events/democracy-at-a-crossroads/) of the poll’s findings. “That language is straight out of Mein Kampf. This kind of poisoning the blood, it’s Nazi rhetoric.” Trump told supporters during a rally in New Hampshire in December 2023 that immigrants coming into the US are [“poisoning the blood of our country”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/16/trump-immigrants-new-hampshire-rally). “They let – I think the real number is 15, 16 million people into our country. When they do that, we got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump told the crowd. “That’s what they’ve done. They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.” He repeated the phrase in a social media post after the rally and had previously used it in a September 2023 [interview](https://meidasnews.com/:section/trump-migrants-poisoning-the-blood-of-our-country). “Blood poisoning” was a term used by Adolf Hitler in his Mein Kampf manifesto. Trump’s comments incited a strong rebuke from the Biden campaign at the time. [ Where do Harris and Trump stand on the key election issues? ](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/14/election-harris-trump-issues-policies) The former Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie responded to Trump’s comments by stating: [“He’s disgusting.”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/17/trump-denounced-anti-immigrant-comment) The television presenter Geraldo Rivera recently cited the comments made by Trump in an [interview](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4934025-geraldo-rivera-trump-latino-voters/) with NewsNation, explaining why he would not vote for the former president. “I don’t know how any Latino person of any self-esteem, any self-respect, would be in favor of the ranting, the poisoning the blood of the country.” The poll also found nearly one in four Trump supporters, 23%, believe if he loses the election that he should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes to assume office.

If you didn’t know any better, you might think, from recent media coverage, that the problem with Donald Trump’s proposal to round up and expel as many as 20 million immigrants is that it’s not likely to work. The Republican presidential nominee has made the mass deportation pledge central to his case for a second term. On the campaign trail, he diverts every question, no matter what the issue, back to the supposed danger and malignancy of immigrants and the urgency of getting rid of them. The economy? It will be better when there are fewer immigrants competing for jobs, he says. Housing prices? They’ll come down when millions of people are kicked out of the country, he claims. Crime will come down when the immigrants are gone, he says, because murder is “in their genes”. The vision he is offering is profoundly racist: Trump’s proposal, which is not limited to undocumented immigrants, is based on the assumption that nonwhite people are the cause of all of the US’s problems, and that everything that is wrong will be made right as soon as they’re gone. His proposed solution to everything – from crime to housing costs to inflation – is to deploy the armed forces to literally round up our friends, family members and neighbors by the millions, in a vast program of ethnic cleansing. It is a terrifying, horrifically immoral, and contemptibly bigoted proposal; racist, indifferent to humanity, and hostile to the principles of pluralism and equality. If it was enacted, it would be among the worst human rights catastrophes of all time. It would destroy families and lives, tear communities apart, inculcate ethnic hatred and distrust. To be accomplished, it would also practically require tremendous amounts of violence and force. Some of those marked for forced removal would hide, and some of their friends would turn them in. Worksites and immigrant neighborhoods would be raided, as cops flooded in and innocent people scattered. Mothers and fathers would be ripped from the arms of their screaming children. There is no other way to accomplish what Trump wants to accomplish: what he is proposing would require atrocity. For him, this may in fact be the point. At the Republican national convention last summer, the crowd in Milwaukee smiled as they held signs aloft reading “MASS DEPORTATION NOW”. Trump’s appeal has always been this vision of a future that, through violence, can be made to look more like what these people imagine of the United States’ past – namely, one with many fewer people of color in it. But what is strange about the coverage of Trump’s mass deportation plan is how little its moral perversity has factored into coverage, either by the media or in the attacks lobbed at it by Democrats. CBS and NBC, for their part, seem to have determined that Trump’s pivot to calling for a gigantic scale ethnic cleansing operation is not in itself newsworthy. Instead, they have run stories pointing out that the plan would be [expensive and logistically difficult](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-plan-deport-immigrants-cost/), with the federal enforcement agencies requiring an estimated $216bn in funding to deport the US’s roughly 11 million undocumented people over the next four years. (Ice, they note, received a comparatively paltry $9bn last year.) Construction, agriculture, real estate development business leaders, they note, are skeptical at the idea, noting how much of their own labor force is composed of immigrants: they claim, probably correctly, that the move would lead to large increases in [housing](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-immigration-deportations-home-building-costs-rcna172886) and [food costs](https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/mass-deportation-food-trump-immigration-agricultural-workers-us-labor-supply/). And economists worry that the broader impact on the economy could be devastating: one economic thinktank found that deporting 1.3 million immigrants would reduce jobs for native-born workers, increasing unemployment by 0.8%. For their part, the Harris campaign has largely taken this line on the issue, preferring to focus on Trump’s mass deportation plan not as a moral horror but as an irresponsible economic move. This is the line taken by Harris campaign surrogate and billionaire [Mark Cuban](https://x.com/AlexanderTabet/status/1847811790702596198), who has made the threats to the labor force posed by Trump’s plan a key part of his pitch to Harris-skeptical small business owners in swing states. This all may be true enough. It is likely that a mass deportation effort would not only strain the resources of the federal government, but also gut the US private sector labor force, not to mention the disruptions it would cause to productivity when, say, an underslept mother is slow or weepy at her shift because the father of her children was taken from their home by goons. It is likely, too, that the number of jobs created by the mass deportation scheme – the cops and thugs who will be needed to round up the immigrants, the lawyers and judges who will be needed to shove them through the court system, the chefs and guards and drivers who will be needed to feed and transport and monitor them inside the internment camps that such a project will inevitably require – will likely not provide enough jobs to offset the lost tax revenue. But there is something morally depraved about talking about Trump’s plan in these terms. The cost of mass deportation cannot be measured only in whether it will be beneficial or detrimental to the pocketbooks of native-born Americans: doing so supposes both that only those born in the US are worthy of concern, and also that the only thing we have to lose is money. What is being proposed is a vast cruelty, a human tragedy, and a costly national investment in racism. That we are speaking of this proposal in primarily economic terms, rather than moral ones, suggests that the cost to the US has already been quite high. * Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed a crackdown on immigration like never before. While his hard-line rhetoric about illegal immigration harks back to his first campaign, one of the president-elect’s targets this time is a decades-old program providing temporary legal status to about one million immigrants from dangerous and deeply troubled countries such as Haiti and Venezuela. Known as Temporary Protected Status, the program was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush to help people already in the United States who cannot return safely and immediately to their country because of a natural disaster or an armed conflict. But for some immigrants, the program, which allows them to work legally, has become all but permanent, a reflection of how troubled many corners of the world are and how little Congress has done to adapt the U.S. immigration system to the realities of global migration in the 21st century. About 200,000 people with T.P.S. are from Haiti, a long-troubled island nation where the [assassination of the president in 2021](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/world/americas/haiti-president-assassinated-killed.html) led to the collapse of the government and the killings of [thousands of people by gangs](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/world/americas/haiti-gangs-airlines-doctors-without-borders.html) that now control much of the country. Haitians have emerged as the focus of Mr. Trump’s threats to effectively end the program after he and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, [spread false rumors](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/us/politics/trump-vance-haitians-ohio.html) that Haitians who have settled in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating pets. Mr. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, spread false rumors that Haitians who have settled in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating pets.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times Thousands of Haitians have settled in the city, and the majority of them have lawful status, often through the program. That has made them attractive to local industries in need of workers. But the influx has strained resources and caused friction among some residents, and Mr. Trump seized on those tensions, vilifying the Haitians who have made Springfield home and threatening to effectively end the program for them and hundreds of thousands of other immigrants. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2Fus%2Ftrump-immigrants-temporary-protected-status.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2Fus%2Ftrump-immigrants-temporary-protected-status.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2Fus%2Ftrump-immigrants-temporary-protected-status.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2Fus%2Ftrump-immigrants-temporary-protected-status.html).

When José Pérez Gómez came from Mexico more than 25 years ago, he scraped together money by selling handmade furniture on the streets of Fresno, Calif. Eventually, he turned that hustle into a full-fledged brick-and-mortar business, which allowed him to raise a family and send two daughters to college. And when Mr. Pérez Gómez, 49, became eligible to participate in his first presidential election four years ago, he voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr. because he was turned off by Donald J. Trump’s negative rhetoric about Latinos and other people of color. But this time, he said, he voted for Mr. Trump. Democrats had assumed that Mr. Trump’s threat of mass deportations and harsh words toward migrants would sour Latino voters across the country, especially those with family or friends who were undocumented. But for Mr. Pérez Gómez, personal economic struggles took precedence. Furthermore, he said, many immigrants in California’s Central Valley actually agreed with Mr. Trump that Democrats had allowed too many people to cross the border with the lure of asylum protections. Friends and relatives had spent decades toiling in the fields and paying taxes with no legal pathway. “Suddenly in one year, millions of people come in with all the rights without having contributed anything to the country,” Mr. Pérez Gómez said. “So a lot of people feel defrauded.” José Pérez Gómez, a furniture store owner, supported President Biden four years ago, but voted for Mr. Trump this election. Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York Times Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F25%2Fus%2Flatino-immigrants-trump-fresno-california.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F25%2Fus%2Flatino-immigrants-trump-fresno-california.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F25%2Fus%2Flatino-immigrants-trump-fresno-california.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F11%2F25%2Fus%2Flatino-immigrants-trump-fresno-california.html).

On the campaign trail, president-elect Donald Trump promoted a rallying cry demanding mass deportations of as many [as 20 million people](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/politics/trump-immigration-what-matters/index.html) – a hyper-inflated statistic that exceeds the estimated total of undocumented population in the US by millions, suggesting he might go so far as to round up immigrants [in the country who have legal protections,](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/vance-trump-legal-immigrants.html) too. But despite the US already having [the largest](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/detained-us-largest-immigrant-detention-trump) immigration detention system worldwide, mass deportations on that scale would require an enforcement regime that doesn’t yet exist. Case in point: in Trump’s first term, authorities removed [about 1.5 million people](https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/politics/deportations-trump-presidency-what-matters/index.html) over four years, leveling a devastating toll on the [families involved](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/04/us/arrestees-trump-workplace-immigration-raid-mississippi.html) but falling far short of the mass repatriations Trump [had aspired to](https://www.factcheck.org/2024/11/trumps-agenda-deportation/) back then. To multiply that number exponentially this time around would require resources, personnel and funding that are [absent](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/opinion/trump-mass-deportation-immigration.html) from the current immigration system. Alternatively, taking a more incremental approach to deport even a million people a year would cost taxpayers somewhere around [$88bn annually](https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/mass-deportation) – or nearly $1tn over more than a decade. So, as stump speeches evolve into more concrete plans during the presidential transition, Trump and his team have coalesced around several demographics to focus on detaining and [deporting first](https://www.scrippsnews.com/scripps-news-investigates/trumps-mass-deportation-plan-targets-specific-groups-of-immigrants) (although if [your grandmother gets swept up as collateral damage](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zxjj0j55o.amp), Trump’s incoming border czar doesn’t seem to mind). One of their highest stated priority demographics: “criminal” immigrants. It’s true that some immigrants commit crimes, and that a handful of [particularly heinous attacks](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/laken-riley-murder-trial-jose-ibarra-verdict/) in recent [memory](https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/us/jocelyn-nungaray-killing-houston/index.html) have made [that front-of-mind](https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/mother-of-murdered-maryland-mom-rachel-morin-to-testify-on-capitol-hill-on-immigration-policies/). But Trump’s fixation on what he’s labeled “[migrant crime](https://time.com/6972022/donald-trump-transcript-2024-election/)” supposedly overtaking the nation is not only [untrue](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trump-misleads-about-crime-and-public-safety-again) but it belies the fact that, historically, immigrants [commit offenses](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/immigrants-and-crime) at lower rates than native-born Americans. For immigrants who have yet to earn US citizenship, there’s a clear and at times existential incentive to remain on the right side of the law: deportation could mean returning to a country where their lives or livelihoods might be at risk. Yet after Trump and his surrogates have so often used “criminals” as the example of their immigration enforcement priorities – especially when persuading [non-base audiences](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/18/there-arent-20-million-people-deport-trump-will-certainly-try/), their argument has proved persuasive [to many](https://english.elpais.com/usa/2024-11-27/most-americans-support-mass-deportation-after-donald-trumps-win.html), and even to a [subset of immigrants](https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5068689/trump-calls-venezuelan-migrants-criminals-some-venezuelans-agree-others-fight-back). Some want to believe that the vast majority of non-citizens who have worked hard, paid taxes and otherwise led upstanding lives in the US [have little to fear](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zxjj0j55o.amp). That the people who will be deported aren’t friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers or even themselves, but dangerous others who somehow “deserve” it. > Trump has already unleashed a world of panic and pain against any immigrant – legal or undocumented – who he decides doesn’t belong in his America Instead, as soon as day one of Trump’s second term, the administration [is expected](https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/16/politics/donald-trump-immigration-plans/index.html) to reverse current policy that prioritizes people who pose threats to national security, border security and public safety for [immigration enforcement](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10578). That could potentially force officials to revert to the chaotic situation under Trump’s first term, [when undocumented immigrants](https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigration-enforcement-priorities-under-trump-administration) were broadly targeted and the country’s finite law enforcement resources were diverted away from real risks. Then, if Trump wants to make good on his campaign promise quickly, his earliest mass deportations may at least in part involve those most easy to locate – such as immigrants already in federal detention facilities, about [60% of whom](https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/quickfacts/) have no criminal record (while many more detainees only have minor infractions). Other low-hanging fruit to pick up, detain and deport include people who report to their [immigration check-ins](https://portal.ice.gov/immigration-guide/check-ins), change their home addresses in government databases when they move and go into work before getting caught up [in a raid](https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/381953-attorneys-warn-clients-to-prepare-for-immigration-raids) – in short, people playing by the rules and trying to make a living, some of whom may have been in the US for decades and buoy up the economy. Even the “criminals” Trump has in mind for his mass deportations may not be who most Americans are envisioning. During the election, Trump [made](https://www.factcheck.org/2024/10/donald-trumps-closing-arguments/) unsubstantiated and bizarre remarks about the US being a “dumping ground for the whole world to put their criminals into”. He claimed with no evidence that the newcomers arriving today, the overwhelming majority of whom are seeking protection or a better life, are actually coming from prisons and mental institutions in their home countries. And, late in the race, his campaign homed in on two cities roughly 1,200 miles apart – Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio – to constantly portray migrants, and in particular migrants of color, as threats to Americans’ safety. For Aurora, Trump used about [a dozen arrests](https://www.npr.org/2024/10/11/nx-s1-5147400/donald-trump-aurora-colorado-rally) of Venezuelans allegedly linked to a transnational gang to declare the city a “war zone” and announce an impending [deportation operation](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/11/trump-harris-us-elections-obama-latest-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-67098cfb8f081a18004e501c#block-67098cfb8f081a18004e501c) named after the Colorado suburb. With a fifth of Aurora’s residents foreign-born, mothers are now [crying every day](https://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/aurora-immigrants-gird-for-deportations-amid-trumps-threats-and-local-promises/) after they drop off their kids at school, unsure of what Trump’s return to the presidency will mean for their family. Latinos in the community [are even](https://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/aurora-immigrants-gird-for-deportations-amid-trumps-threats-and-local-promises/) expressing concerns about gathering together in groups, in case of a raid. In Springfield, Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, insistently connected [the city’s large](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/neo-nazis-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants) Haitian immigrant [population](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/30/springfield-ohio-republicans-haitian-immigrants-lies) with an uptick in the murder rate – [never mind](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/politics/fact-check-springfield-had-more-murders-under-trump-than-under-biden-harris/index.html) that the local county’s Republican top prosecutor said that in his 21-year career, not a single Haitian had been involved in a murder case there. After Trump and Vance used their national platform to disparage Springfield and its immigrant residents, the city received [bomb threats](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/us/haitian-immigrants-springfield-threats/index.html) explicitly based in [anti-immigrant hate](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/12/bomb-threat-springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants/). Now, members of Springfield’s Haitian community – [many of whom](https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/10/5/fact-check-are-haitian-immigrants-in-springfield-in-the-us-illegally) are in the US legally – [are](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/17/haitian-immigrants-springfield-ohio-trump-election) moving elsewhere, afraid that staying put will mean deportation come January. In Aurora, Springfield and the rest of the country, Trump’s “criminals” are whoever he wants them to be. And while he may not have the infrastructure needed to repatriate as many millions of people as he would hope, Trump has already unleashed a world of panic and pain through his looming threat of mass deportations and family separations against any immigrant – legal or undocumented – who he decides doesn’t belong in his America.

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering deporting some immigrants to countries other than their own. If he tries to do so, it won’t be the first time. Like before, however, he would probably face legal challenges. According to [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/incoming-trump-administration-plans-deport-migrants-countries-rcna182896), Trump is considering sending immigrants whose home countries will not accept US deportees to third countries including Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama, and Grenada. Currently, many immigrants from so-called “recalcitrant countries” are simply released into the US since there is nowhere to send them. It’s not immediately clear what legal mechanism Trump intends to rely on to carry out these deportations to third countries. A representative for the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. A regulation and a law currently give the executive branch some ability to deport immigrants to third countries; however, the legality of both is an open question. During his first term, Trump previously sought to use executive power to send asylum seekers of various nationalities to Guatemala under what he called an “Asylum Cooperative Agreement.” Under the agreement, migrants who passed through Guatemala before arriving in the US were sent back if they did not first seek protection there. The ACLU [filed a lawsuit](https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/asylum-seekers-are-being-abandoned-in-guatemala-in-a-new-policy-officials-call-a-total-disaster) challenging the policy, but that suit was never resolved: The government stopped enforcing the policy during the pandemic and President Joe Biden was elected. The rule remains on the books, however. If Biden does not rescind it before he leaves office, the incoming Trump administration could use it to deport people to the countries under consideration — if it survives in court, and if the US can broker similar agreements with those countries. Alternatively, Trump could try to invoke federal immigration law allowing the removal of immigrants to third countries in certain circumstances, such as when they cannot be returned to their country of origin and the third country is deemed to be safe for them. The ACLU has [challenged Biden’s use of this law](https://www.acludc.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/m.a._v_mayorkas.001.complaint.pdf) to fast-track deportations of Venezuelans to Mexico without their consent. The outcome of the lawsuit may determine the kind of powers Trump may have to carry out his plans. Either way, the Trump administration would have to ensure that immigrants would be sent to a country where they will be safe, as is required under US and international law. “Folks are supposed to be safe from persecution and torture and \[any\] procedure has to include adequate screening for fear of return and a fair process,” [Katrina Eiland](https://www.aclu.org/bio/katrina-eiland), deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said. “To the extent \[the Trump administration is\] incentivized to take shortcuts, that’s a huge problem and something that the ACLU and other allies I’m sure would be prime to sue over.” The US had [designated 13 countries as recalcitrant](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11025) as of 2020, including Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran. It has not publicly updated that list in the years since, and immigrants have been arriving in the US in increasing numbers from some of those countries. For instance, [apprehensions of Chinese nationals](https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-immigrants-southwest-border-encounters-rise-1967350) at the US southern border jumped from less than 2,000 in fiscal year 2022 to over 36,000 in 2024. Many of them are fleeing economic hardship and political oppression following the country’s strict pandemic-era lockdowns. But China has been reluctant to accept its own citizens: The US sent a large deportation flight to China in July for the [first time in six years](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/us-china-migrants-deportation-flight.html). Though Venezuela was not previously on the list of recalcitrant countries, it also [stopped accepting deportation flights](https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/venezuela-halts-flights-of-deported-migrants-from-u-s-and-mexico-962f6149) from the US in February following the implementation of American sanctions. While the US was previously only returning a fraction of the millions fleeing Venezuela’s dictatorship, the Biden administration saw the deportation flights as a deterrent to further migration. US immigration agents [recorded more than 300,000 encounters](https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters) with Venezuelans in fiscal year 2024. All of these people, who number in at least the hundreds of thousands, could be targets for a deportation program that sends immigrants to third countries under Trump. Whether Trump can deport people to third countries in large numbers may depend on what happens in the ACLU’s pending lawsuits. But, again, existing legal authorities could allow him to carry out at least some of these removals. The ACLU has argued in its lawsuit challenging the rule underlying the US’s agreement with Guatemala that the agreement does not provide for sufficient screening to determine whether an immigrant would face “credible fear” of persecution in Guatemala. Under US and international law, immigrants cannot be returned to places where they would face such credible fear. At the time the agreement was established, Guatemala had the [ninth-highest homicide rate](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/19/20970868/asylum-rule-agreement-guatemala-el-salvador-honduras-safe-third-deport-dhs-doj) worldwide, at about 26 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, and the State Department had issued a [travel warning](https://coladca.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/guatemala.pdf) for US citizens in Guatemala. The rule also claimed that asylum seekers would only be sent to countries where they have “access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to asylum or equivalent temporary protection.” The Trump administration certified that Guatemala’s legal framework met that standard despite what Eiland called a “total dearth of evidence in the administrative record, and in fact … a lot of evidence to the contrary.” It’s not clear whether the same legal arguments would apply to any similar agreements Trump might broker with Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama, and Grenada. But in the meantime, Biden still has an opportunity to rescind the underlying rule that would allow additional agreements to be implemented. “With a little over a month to go till inauguration, they may do nothing, in which case the rule is still there. Theoretically, the Trump administration could come in and sign new agreements,” Eiland said. In its other lawsuit challenging the deportations of Venezuelans to Mexico, the ACLU has argued that such a use of the third-country removal authority is unprecedented and will result in “removal to situations in which noncitizens are likely to face persecution or torture.” The law lays out a detailed process for determining when an immigrant can be sent to a third country, and the ACLU has argued that the Biden administration is not abiding by it. If the courts uphold Biden’s use of the law, that would potentially open the door for Trump to do the same for additional citizens of recalcitrant countries, giving him another tool through which he could carry out his [plans for mass deportations](https://www.vox.com/politics/380582/mass-deportations-trump-history-alien-enemies). You’ve read 1 article in the last month Here at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. We rely on readers like you — join us.  Swati Sharma Vox Editor-in-Chief See More: * [Donald Trump](https://www.vox.com/donald-trump) * [Immigration](https://www.vox.com/immigration) * [Policy](https://www.vox.com/policy) * [Politics](https://www.vox.com/politics) * [Trump Administration](https://www.vox.com/trump-administration)

The US deported more than 270,000 immigrants in a recent 12-month period, the highest amount annually in a decade, according to a government report released on Thursday. The deportations were nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier and came as part of a broader push by Joe Biden to reduce illegal immigration. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported people to 192 countries in fiscal year 2024, which ended on 30 September, according to the agency’s annual enforcement report. The tally was the highest since 2014, which saw the removal of 315,943 people, and higher than any year of Donald Trump’s 2017-2021 administration, according to US government statistics. The US was able to increase forced removals with more deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Although Biden took office pledging to roll back Trump’s highly restrictive immigration policies, he toughened his enforcement approach as the US saw high levels of illegal immigration. Trump won another term in the White House in November promising to deport record numbers of immigrants in the US illegally as part of a broader immigration crackdown. Despite the large number of deportations under the [Biden administration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/biden-administration), Karoline Leavitt, Trump transition spokesperson, argued that they were insignificant compared with the high levels of illegal immigration during his presidency. “On day one, President Trump will fix the immigration and national security nightmare that Joe Biden created by launching the largest mass deportation operation of illegal criminals in United States history,” she said in a statement. Some 11 million immigrants lacked legal status or had temporary protections in 2022, according to government and thinktank estimates, a figure that some analysts now place at 13 million to 14 million. The incoming Trump administration plans to tap resources across the federal government to power the planned deportation initiative, Reuters reported last month. The Biden administration has helped lay the groundwork to expand immigration jails, [according to a Guardian investigation](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/05/biden-immigration-jails-trump-mass-deportation-plan), which is expected to boost Trump’s [plan](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/31/election-trump-immigration-policies) for the mass deportation of undocumented people. Trump tried to increase deportations during his first term with limited success. Ice removed 267,000 immigrants in fiscal year 2019, fewer than most years under Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. When looking at both deportations by Ice and returns to Mexico by US border authorities, Biden was responsible for more in fiscal year 2023 than any Trump year. While deportations rose in fiscal year 2024, the number of Ice arrests of immigrants living in the US illegally dropped by 33% compared with the previous year, the agency’s annual report said, attributing the falloff to more officers assisting with border security operations.

In a vast Amazon warehouse in central Ohio, the stress might seem to be all about the work. It’s the holidays, and like every other Amazon fulfillment center, the one in West Jefferson is under the gun. Hundreds of employees are working 12-hour shifts, racing to sort and pack thousands upon thousands of items destined to land in living rooms before for Christmas and Hanukkah. Yet, for many of the workers, there is a deep, unspoken unease. It has nothing to do with the holidays or Amazon. It has everything to do with being immigrants from Haiti in a nation that just elected Donald J. Trump as president. Many of them live a half-hour away in Springfield, the city that found itself dragged into the presidential campaign after Mr. Trump and his allies spread a debunked rumor that Haitians there were abducting and eating cats and dogs. It unleashed a raw, painful time for the city. There were bomb threats against schools and hospitals and marches by white supremacists. And thousands of Haitians, who in recent years had fled a violent, impoverished country and settled in the town of 60,000, found themselves wondering if they should continue to live in Springfield. Now, many of them fear they may not be able to stay in the United States. Mr. Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations and to curtail programs, such as Temporary Protected Status, that have allowed many of the Haitians to remain in the country at least in the short term. And he has promised to target the thousands of Haitians living and working in and around Springfield. “Sometimes I can’t sleep, I am so worried,” said Frantzdy Jerome, 33, a Haitian immigrant, who works the overnight shift at the Amazon warehouse. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F23%2Fus%2Fhaitian-immigrants-trump-springfield.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F23%2Fus%2Fhaitian-immigrants-trump-springfield.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F23%2Fus%2Fhaitian-immigrants-trump-springfield.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F12%2F23%2Fus%2Fhaitian-immigrants-trump-springfield.html).

Almost immediately after [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) took office in 2017, he directed his administration to begin rounding up and deporting immigrants living in the country without authorization. He implemented a travel ban that caused chaos at airports, leaving families, students and scholars stranded. He also attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, which shields hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country as children from deportation and imposed a “zero-tolerance” at the US-Mexico border that led to the separation of thousands of families. Many immigration advocates fear that the next four years could be even worse. “The stakes are so much higher,” said Cathryn Paul, public policy director at Casa, an immigrant advocacy organization with a presence across the mid-Atlantic. Across the country, immigrant advocates, activists and legal aid groups are preparing to resist Trump’s pledge to deport millions of people living in the country without authorization – and his threat to end programs shielding tens of thousands of immigrants in the US on a lawful but temporary basis. To implement his sprawling [enforcement agenda](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/31/election-trump-immigration-policies), Trump has appointed a team of immigration hardliners. Though the incoming administration has yet to offer specifics, Trump has said [he is prepared to activate](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/18/trump-military-mass-deportation) the US military to assist with deportations. His “border czar”, [Tom Homan](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/12/who-is-tom-homan-trump-border-czar), has threatened to withhold federal funds to states that refuse to cooperate, and when asked during an interview if there was a way for mass deportations not to separate families with mixed immigration statuses, he replied: “Families can be deported together.” (US citizens cannot be deported, but could choose to leave voluntarily.) Advocates anticipate high-profile raids at work sites and in immigrant communities that the president-elect targeted on the campaign trail. “We are trying to do everything we can to provide people with the facts, to provide people with the greatest level of information that we have and allow them to decide for themselves what they need to do for their safety and the safety of their family,” Paul said. Casa has been holding “know your rights” workshops to prepare people for Trump’s return to power. The presentations are not new, but Paul said attendance had risen since the November election. In recent weeks, schools and city councils have also reached out to Casa seeking guidance on how to protect students and residents who could be at risk of deportation. The workshops include role-playing, with step-by-step instructions for how to respond if, for example, “Ice knocks on your door,” Paul said, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The trainings run through what information to share – and not to share – and how to access legal representation. “We actually go through what exactly is needed to make sure that your family is prepared in the event you get picked up or an Ice raid happens at work and you get separated from your kids,” she added. Trainings are tailored to the specific political and legal climate of a certain location. Some states, such as California and Illinois, have already vowed to shield people from potential Trump administration immigration policies, while other places like Texas and Missouri are pushing legislation that would help Trump carry out his mass deportation pledge. The training also seeks to address the widespread fear that attending a doctor’s appointment, a school meeting or a church service could lead to their arrest. In his first term, Trump attempted to [impose what amounted to a wealth test](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/us/politics/immigrants-green-card-public-aid.html) for immigrants seeking permanent residency in the US by expanding the range of safety-net programs that would render an applicant ineligible. [Estimates](https://www.kff.org/report-section/estimated-impacts-of-final-public-charge-inadmissibility-rule-on-immigrants-and-medicaid-coverage-key-findings/) and anecdotal evidence suggest that the threat alone led many immigrant families, including US-citizen children, not to seek healthcare and other assistance for which they were eligible. Foday Turay, an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia who fled Sierra Leone as a child and is shielded from deportation by the Daca program, [told](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/10/trump-deportation-plan-senate-hearing) a Senate panel in December that fear can lead to a decline in reports of crime, especially [domestic violence](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/03/us/immigrants-houston-domestic-violence.html) and [sexual assault.](http://nytimes.com/2017/04/30/us/immigrants-deportation-sexual-abuse.html) “As a prosecutor, I know how delicate the ties between law enforcement and immigrants can be if immigrants are afraid to cooperate with the police or prosecutors like myself because they’re afraid of deportation,” he said. Additionally, advocacy and legal aid groups are urging immigrant families to put together plans in the event a loved one is detained or deported. The Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center has [published](https://immigrantjustice.org/know-your-rights/mass-deportation-threats) a resource guide with actions families can take now to be prepared. They suggest creating a safety plan that includes designating an emergency contact who can pick up a child from school and make medical and legal decisions for the child in the event a parent is detained. They also advise collecting all documents including immigration and financial information in a safe place that other families or an emergency contact can access. They also warn people to be aware of immigration fraud and digital scams. “Immigrants may be targeted by people wanting to exploit their situation to make money in order to avoid immigration fraud,” Elizabeth Gonzalez, a paralegal with the group says in a video. “Only seek legal advice from people who are authorized to give it.” A Phoenix-based group that advocates for undocumented young people and families with mixed-immigration status has prepared a “defense and preparation” checklist. The packet includes several forms to appoint a legal guardian and to authorize a designated contact to pick up paychecks for the person in deportation proceedings. Some of the efforts build on lessons learned during the first Trump administration. Workplace raids in Tennessee and Mississippi led organizers to create [an emergency response tool kit](https://www.nilc.org/resources/worksite-immigration-raids-toolkit/) for affected communities. The guide outlines five actions to take in the moments following a worksite raid, including designating a single place such as a community center or church for families and responders to gather. But advocates and activists say community organizers can only do so much. Resisting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown will require a broad coalition of immigrant rights groups, school administrators and local governments to be effective. Advocates are pushing their local and state governments to take actions now that could slow the federal government’s ability to carry out deportations on mass scale. This includes a push for so-called “sanctuary city” policies that prevent local and state law enforcement from aiding federal immigration officials as they seek to detain and deport immigrants. “Trump is promising massive deportations on day one, and we’re preparing to defend our communities on day one,” Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, an alderman on Chicago’s city council, [told](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/29/trump-mass-deportation-plan-cities) the Guardian in November. Advocates are also urging state and local governments to restrict immigration officials from carrying out arrests in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and churches; to cancel contracts that allow Ice to use local jails and facilities to detain immigrants; and to take steps to better protect the data they collect on undocumented residents. Some places have established legal defense funds for immigrants facing deportation. Meanwhile, organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are studying various proposed changes to immigration and asylum law in preparation for potential legal challenges. Earlier this year, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Ice, seeking more information about how the agency might carry out Trump’s proposed mass deportation campaign. “There are a lot of things that we can do – that we are doing – to engage our immigrant families and the broader community as a whole,” Paul said.

The Social Security Administration receives billions in free money each year from an unexpected source: undocumented immigrants. This group paid an estimated $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022, according to a recent [analysis](https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024) from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning tax research group. Since unauthorized workers cannot collect retirement and other Social Security benefits without a change to their immigration status, the billions they pour into the program effectively act as a subsidy for American beneficiaries. President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed to carry out the nation’s largest mass deportation program to date, and restrict legal pathways to immigration. It’s hard to predict whether the incoming administration will be able to follow through with its most aggressive promises, among them [sending home](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/us/trump-immigrants-deportations.html) the estimated [11 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/trump-immigration-republicans-explained.html) undocumented workers currently in the United States. But if the White House does follow through, economists project a broad [drag](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/business/economy/immigration-trump-economy.html) on [the economy](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/business/economy/trump-immigration-inflation-prices.html) — and it could cost Social Security roughly $20 billion in cash flow annually, according to actuaries at the Social Security Administration, which sends [benefits](https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/basicfact-alt.pdf) to 68 million Americans each month, totaling $1.5 trillion last year. Social Security has faced a financing shortfall for years, partly because of demographic shifts. Falling [birthrates](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/health/fertility-births-vance.html) mean fewer people are paying into the program, thousands of baby boomers are retiring daily, and retirees are collecting benefits for longer periods. “America’s demographic realities are increasingly challenging for financing programs like Social Security,” said Shai Akabas, executive director of the economic policy program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonprofit. “Net immigration into the country is one factor that has positively pushed against that trend and helped fill the gap left by an aging work force.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fbusiness%2Fsocial-security-undocumented-immigrants.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fbusiness%2Fsocial-security-undocumented-immigrants.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fbusiness%2Fsocial-security-undocumented-immigrants.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fbusiness%2Fsocial-security-undocumented-immigrants.html).

It was hardly two weeks after the election when a doctor in our clinic received a letter from one of her patients, an undocumented immigrant who feared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might detain her under a second Trump term. The patient had diabetes and suffered from rotator cuff tendinitis, which makes reaching backward quite painful. “Is there any possibility you can write a letter,” she asked, “stating that if they handcuff me, can they please handcuff me with my hands in front of me?” She was also panicked about her diabetes. “I am scared that they will not allow me to take any medications in the immigration camps.” The patient asked that if the doctor needed an in-person visit with her, “may it be scheduled before January?” She would do only virtual visits after Trump took office. “I’m scared I.C.E. will be in train stations and bus stops,” she said. As a physician, it was hard to read this without feeling sickened. It brought back the tumultuous months of 2017, defined by the first Trump administration’s travel bans and [vitriol against immigrants](https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/27/trumps-dangerous-scapegoating-immigrants). So many of our patients were terrified by the rhetoric; anxiety levels and blood pressure skyrocketed. But what seemed like an electoral aberration now feels like an American retrenchment. Tom Homan, tapped to become the so-called border czar, has promised “[shock and awe](https://abcnews.go.com/US/shock-awe-trump-border-czar-tom-homan-plans/story?id=115972346)” on Day 1. To be sure, [every presidential administration for the past 30 years has deported undocumented immigrants](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-deportation-record), though mostly at or near the border. What feels different about this upcoming term — and why medical professionals will need to play a more active role in protecting their patients — is the scope. The specter of mass and potentially indiscriminate roundups feels more akin to the shameful internment of Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens during World War II. Historically, health care workers have not always risen to the occasion when our patients have been targeted. Our recent history is tarnished by failures to report abuses or intervene at [Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp048065), as well as by forced sterilizations of [prisoners](https://revealnews.org/article/female-inmates-sterilized-in-california-prisons-without-approval/), [women of color](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/magazine/eugenics-movement-america.html) and [people with disabilities](https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/%C6%92.NWLC_SterilizationReport_2021.pdf). Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F17%2Fopinion%2Fmass-deportations-undocumented-immigrants-health.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F17%2Fopinion%2Fmass-deportations-undocumented-immigrants-health.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F17%2Fopinion%2Fmass-deportations-undocumented-immigrants-health.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F17%2Fopinion%2Fmass-deportations-undocumented-immigrants-health.html).

[The Trump administration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration) is issuing a new round of heavy-handed measures that could rapidly deport immigrants who entered the United States through recently established legal pathways, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained [the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/us/politics/trump-immigrants-deportation.html). The directive, signed by the acting homeland security secretary, Benjamine Huffman, grants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials unprecedented authority to expedite deportations for immigrants who entered the country with government authorization through two key Biden-era programs. These programs, which have allowed more than a million immigrants to enter the country since 2023, had provided scheduling for migrants or asylum seekers through [the government-run app](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/21/trump-immigration-policies) CBP One or temporary legal status for up to two years through a parole program for certain countries. The newly reported memo instructs Ice officials to identify and potentially rapidly deport immigrants who have been in the country for over a year and have not yet applied for asylum, in effect sidestepping traditional [immigration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/usimmigration) court proceedings. In no waste of time, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, [posted on X](https://x.com/PressSec/status/1882759560613527770) on Friday: “Deportation flights have begun,” accompanied by official pictures of people boarding a military-style aircraft. Despite such flights being routine under successive administrations, the White House is promoting such images strongly and also deployed troops to the border late on Thursday, including US marines [arriving](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/newark-mayor-immigration-raid) in Boeing Osprey aircraft in California. The developments come as so-called sanctuary cities [like Chicago](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/trump-immigration-crackdown), Newark and Denver are experiencing direct impacts of the administration’s hardline immigration stance. In Newark, Mayor Ras Baraka condemned a small-scale local [Ice raid](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/newark-mayor-immigration-raid) on Thursday that he claimed resulted in the detention of both undocumented residents and citizens – including a US military veteran. And Denver’s mayor, Mike Johnston, [told CNN](https://denverite.com/2025/01/21/denver-mayor-mike-johnston-ice-deportations/) the city would cooperate with Ice to deport “violent criminals”, but pushed back against arrests in schools and churches. A DHS spokesperson [defended the new policies](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01/21/statement-dhs-spokesperson-directives-expanding-law-enforcement-and-ending-abuse), writing in a statement that “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” and that the administration “trusts law enforcement to use common sense”. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has already [challenged the policy](https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/immigrants-rights-advocates-sue-trump-administration-over-fast-track-deportation-policy) in federal court, with the senior staff attorney Anand Balakrishnan characterizing the approach as a “mass deportation agenda” that circumvents constitutional due process. Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, has been vocal in his opposition to the immigration programs of the last administration, previously criticizing the admission of immigrants from what he termed “failed states”. Thousands who had received or were waiting for CBP One appointments south of the border were [left devastated](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/trump-cbp-one-app-cancelled-mexico) this week after the app was abruptly shut down moments after Trump was sworn in, while those [already in the country](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/16/trump-deportation-cbp-one-app-migration) using the app and who were preparing to apply for asylum may now be in the line of fire. Later on Friday, the [Trump administration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration) followed up, announcing that it was expanding a fast-track deportation authority nationwide, allowing immigration officers to deport people without appearing before a judge. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/legal-immigrant-deportation-trump-ice#EmailSignup-skip-link-14) Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion The administration said it was expanding the use of “expedited removal” authority so it can be used across the country, in a notice in the Federal Register outlining the new rules. “Expedited removal” gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without requiring them to appear before an immigration judge. There are limited exceptions, including if they express fear of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for asylum. Critics have said there is too much risk that people who have the right to be in the country will be mistakenly swept up by agents and officers and that not enough is done to protect immigrants who have genuine reason to fear being sent home. The powers were created under a 1996 law. But these powers were not widely used until 2004, when homeland security said it would use expedited removal authority for people arrested within two weeks of entering the US by land and caught within 100 miles of the border. That meant it was used mostly against immigrants recently arrived in the country. In the notice on Friday the administration said the authority could be used across the country and would go into effect immediately. The notice said the person put into expedited removal “bears the affirmative burden to show to the satisfaction of an immigration officer” that they have the right to be in the US. _The Associated Press contributed reporting_

Outside a nondescript storefront in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a line of people stretched down the block. They stood rocking babies, pushing toddlers in strollers and clutching thick envelopes of paperwork. They were looking for help with visa requests, work permits, green card applications and citizenship paperwork, all in hopes of living and working legally in New York. Inside sat Msgr. James Kelly, an 87-year-old priest turned lawyer who leads a team that provides guidance, at a steep discount, to immigrants seeking legal status. The work they do out of their cramped office, District Three Immigration Services, has never been in greater demand — and their ability to help has never been less guaranteed. What began as a passion project for Father Kelly when he arrived in New York from Ireland 65 years ago has become a lifeline for immigrants who are terrified about President Trump’s promises of mass deportations. On a recent weekday, the line of people looking for help appeared never-ending. A rudimentary sign taped to the front door denoting a lunch break from noon to 1 p.m. was summarily ignored. Before the inauguration, the office would typically see 50 clients in a day; that number is now up to 80. One mother said she was afraid to send her child to school. Others said family members were deciding to leave the country rather than risk being forcibly sent away. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F07%2Fnyregion%2Fnyc-immigrants-trump-brooklyn.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F07%2Fnyregion%2Fnyc-immigrants-trump-brooklyn.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F07%2Fnyregion%2Fnyc-immigrants-trump-brooklyn.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F07%2Fnyregion%2Fnyc-immigrants-trump-brooklyn.html).