Under Siege > Appendix C, Anti-Immigrant Propaganda
APPENDIX C
Anti-Immigrant Propaganda has
Real-Life Consequences
The belief that immigrants are disease-carrying criminals bent on destroying the United States economy for their own selfish purposes would have previously been written off as the ranting of a xenophobe who needs to be kept away from any legitimate discussion of immigration policy.
Today, however, immigration myths and wild conspiracy theories are frequently repeated in the mainstream media and in the corridors of power from Congress to statehouses to town halls across the country.
These ideas have gained currency in large part because talk radio and television news programs trusted by the public have provided a platform for racist extremist groups to spread their propaganda — fueling anger and hate against Latinos.
This vilification has dramatic consequences for Latinos, regardless of their immigration status.
SPLC researchers in Charlotte, N.C., for example, were told how the toxic immigration debate — particularly the crude discourse on talk radio — transformed the perception of Latino immigrants from that of valuable workers eager to help transform the city into a major financial center to a destructive force that has infiltrated the city.
Eventually, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina implemented a 287(g) program, an agreement that allows the department to enforce federal immigration law. Latinos say that such 287(g) agreements lead to widespread racial profiling and discrimination.
Politicians Adopt Falsehoods as Fact
The bogus information that encourages discrimination and harassment is given even more credence by politicians who co-opt it for legislative efforts and campaign speeches.
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., helped push the North American Union conspiracy theory — the belief in a secret plot to merge the United States, Canada and Mexico — as a legitimate concern tied to illegal immigration. Other congressional conservatives joined a group to block such an improbable merger.
Even more remarkable, the houses of representatives of at least 18 states have passed resolutions opposing the union — an entity that doesn't exist. The state senates of Idaho and Montana have also offered legislative resolutions.10
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, promoted on his website in 2006 a claim that undocumented immigrants kill 25 Americans a day either by murder or drunk driving, a figure that has no basis in reality but has been repeated by talk radio hosts nonetheless.
Radio host Peter Boyles of Denver stoked the fear of deadly immigrants by claiming undocumented immigrants have murdered 45,000 U.S. citizens since Sept. 11, 2001. This outlandish figure would mean that undocumented immigrants, who make up less than 4 percent of the U.S. population, were responsible for 53 percent of all murders by 2006.11
This drumbeat heralding a murderous Latino invasion has distressing and even tragic consequences.
Nativist Extremist Groups Rising
Some 300 anti-immigration groups have been formed since 2005. About half of these groups are characterized as "nativist extremists" by the SPLC. Even more disturbing is the 54 percent increase in the number of hate groups in the United States since 2000. This rise — from 602 groups to 926 in 2008 — is largely the result of the vitriol surrounding the immigration debate.
At the same time, hate crimes against Latinos are increasing. FBI statistics show a 40 percent jump in hate crimes against Latinos from 2003 to 2007.12
One recent hate crime illustrated the callous attitude of the attackers. In November 2008, Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, 37, was stabbed to death in Patchogue, N.Y., during an attack by seven teens.13 The teens, who were also charged in connection with attacks on eight other Latinos over 14 months, reportedly told authorities that assaulting Latinos was a regular pastime. "I don't go out doing this very often, maybe once a week," one of the teens told police.14
Immigrants in the area have said they have been harassed but don't report it to police due to their fears of deportation.15
Tragically, such crimes shouldn't be surprising given the ubiquitous immigrant-bashing in the media.
One organization listed by the SPLC as a hate group because of its longstanding ties to white supremacists, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has not only been given airtime but has repeatedly testified about immigration before Congress.
FAIR's past has been largely ignored by the media despite the group's acceptance of more than $1 million from the Pioneer Fund, a racist foundation devoted to eugenics and proving a connection between race and intelligence. The group's founder, John Tanton, also has compared immigrants to bacteria and operates The Social Contract Press, a company that has published anti-Latino and white supremacist writings.16
Immigrant-Bashing Common in the Media
Meanwhile, cable news personalities like CNN's Lou Dobbs inflame nativist passions with extremist-inspired propaganda — like the ridiculously false charge that immigrants were responsible for 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the United States during a recent three-year period.17
The questionable claims peddled in the media have tangible effects on local laws as lawmakers scramble to see who can be toughest on "illegals." State legislatures have been inundated with immigration bills. In 2008, approximately 1,300 bills related to immigration were considered across the country. At least one law or resolution was enacted in each of 41 states, and a total of 206 laws and resolutions were enacted nationwide.
This is comparable to 2007, when 1,562 bills and resolutions were introduced in state legislatures and 240 laws were enacted.18
Not surprisingly, this atmosphere has chilled America's Latino community. Half of all Latinos questioned in a 2008 Pew survey said the situation of Latinos in the United States is worse than it was a year ago. That was up from the 33 percent of Latino adults who expressed the same opinion a year earlier.
"The immigration issue has affected all Latinos. Any person of brown color. They're looked at as immigrants," Balvino Irizarry, president of the Hispanic Leadership Council of Stanislaus County, Calif., said of the study's 2007 findings.19
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