“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
These horrific words from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump have fueled dangerous stereotypes about immigrants. As the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, I have seen how anti-immigrant rhetoric has haunted my community with lies. The recently passed One Big “Beautiful” Budget Bill (OBBB) unsurprisingly contained devastating provisions that intensify criminalization and false narratives about immigrants.
Myth
The administration is only detaining immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
Reality: As of Sept. 21, data shows that 42,755 out of 59,762 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention — 71.5% — have no criminal conviction. Many of those who do have convictions were charged only with minor offenses, such as traffic violations, and are being subjected to inhumane detention treatment. The OBBB allocated an immediate $45 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to expand detention of immigrant adults and families, holding them indefinitely for the duration of immigration proceedings — all under the false premise of public safety.
Myth
Undocumented immigrants use up public benefits.
Reality: Undocumented immigrants, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, are already ineligible for federal public benefits such as Medicaid, Medicare, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, funds. The OBBB goes further, revoking eligibility for many lawfully present immigrants, including victims of crime or trafficking, survivors of domestic violence and asylum seekers who have historically qualified for support. This punishes people who assist law enforcement, escape abuse from their U.S. citizen spouse or flee persecution for their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
$89.8BContributions to federal, state and local taxes by immigrant households
Myth
Immigrants are cutting in line and stealing jobs from American citizens.
Reality: There’s no line to cut. Legal immigration takes decades and costs thousands of dollars, with the OBBB making it worse through increased fees and a new initial fee for asylum seekers. Despite these barriers, immigrant households paid $89.8 billion in federal, state and local taxes and held $299 billion in spending power in 2023, with immigrants starting almost 1 in 5 businesses in the U.S. in 2023, Gusto Insights found. That’s despite immigrants representing about 15.6% of the population, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.
Yet many cannot access key programs like Social Security or the unemployment benefits that their tax dollars help fund. Meanwhile, immigrants fill critical roles, from farmworkers who harvest our food for often below-minimum wages to health care workers, construction laborers and service industry employees who sustained essential operations during the pandemic.
Myth
Increased immigration enforcement does not affect Black and Brown people with legal status.
Reality: The OBBB allocates more than $170 billion to ICE’s budget over the next four years, fueling enforcement that harms everyone. Black and Brown communities are being targeted, and racial profiling is being perpetuated. Since Trump’s inauguration, many U.S. citizens have been wrongfully detained, despite attempting to provide proof of their citizenship — a situation that ultimately reinforces stereotypes about who looks like an immigrant. In America, even having an accent could lead to a life-altering, traumatic encounter with immigration authorities.
The truth is clear: Immigrants strengthen America while facing systemic barriers and discrimination. Learn more about the ways you can continue to stop the harm from the OBBB.
Yomaira Tarula-Aranda served as a federal policy summer intern with the Southern Poverty Law Center this year.
Image at top: SPLC illustration