The Exorbitant Cost of Anti-Immigrant Propaganda
The costs extend far beyond dollar amounts
Anti-immigrant propaganda has reached levels not seen since the internment of Japanese people in 1942 and the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. While this didn’t start with Donald Trump announcing his run for president in 2015, he did take it further than at any other time in modern history. Now, during his second term, the disinformation and lies are akin to the worst racism ever seen in the United States. His executive orders highlight how bad it is.
Conversations about the indefinite detention of migrants in private prisons – who are only required to pay as little as $1 per day and often don’t pay anything at all – are drawing connections to the history of enslavement and indentured servitude. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids are conjuring visions of slave patrols and comparisons to Operation Wetback when Mexicans were forcibly deported to Mexico, millions of which were U.S. citizens.
While there is plenty of blame to go around for the anti-immigrant fervor that includes not just Trump, but lawmakers and the news media, the propaganda being put out by high-ranking government officials through various agencies is not only expensive but could have dire impacts on society overall as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorized many federal agencies to conduct immigration enforcement activities.
This means they’re not doing what their mission is supposed to entail.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons have all been authorized to participate in ICE raids. This leaves a glaring hole in those agencies' investigations and raises questions about who is filling those gaps. The Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is also recruiting local and state police to participate.
This is problematic for many reasons as highlighted in my reports about the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) sitting on the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) and local law enforcement being elevated to the Office of DHS Secretary. The FOP is one of the most divisive organizations in the United States. Its leadership has continuously pushed the dangerous and false “war on cops” narrative while also promoting hate, bigotry, and outright racism.
The disinformation we see in the media has been building for some time. Now, it’s exacerbated by people in power at the head of these agencies. Agents have been advised to look “camera ready” and ICE director Tom Homan even partnered with Dr. Phil who has been promoting xenophobic ideas through his latest media venture with his wife. Unsurprisingly, even DHS Secretary Kristi Noem jumped into the fray as part of her first day on the job.
Providing the media with images of migrants being loaded onto military planes is another example of how they’re employing propaganda – leaving out the part that most of those shown in the photos were already in ICE custody when Trump took office. According to Reuters, those flights cost $4,675 per migrant, more than five times the cost of a one-way first-class ticket and more than seven times commercial aircraft being chartered by ICE (how it's normally done).
The video clips are being provided to media outlets to drive a message suggesting they are only targeting violent criminals subject to deportation. The truth, however, is much more sinister.
Reports are everywhere of federal agents racially profiling Latinos. Puerto Ricans and many other U.S. citizens have been taken into custody, detained, and harassed for either looking Latino or simply speaking Spanish in public, something many of us do. While we expected this to happen because we are all too aware of the Latinophic nature of the anti-immigrant rhetoric, it’s already much worse than anticipated.
The human costs of the mass deportation efforts can only be hidden by outright disinformation being shared with the news media. Not unlike previous times in history that led to ethnic cleansing and genocide, the only way for them to provide cover for themselves is to lie. Forcing ourselves to endure the inhumanity and cover these stories are more crucial than ever.
Watching them spend tens of millions of dollars in just over a week on efforts to sanitize what they’re doing and watching law enforcement agencies redirect their efforts to bigoted policies and steer away from their duties will be important. Noticeably, talk of foreign fighters conducting terrorist attacks on U.S. soil suddenly disappeared just in time for these agencies to shift focus. While questionable, it appears that’s not an accident either.
It’s all seemingly so intentional.
I’m a freelance journalist. Find my work at Latino Rebels, Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp.
Very informational and eye opening, thank you Arturo 🙏🏻