Former President Donald Trump knows how important his words are on illegal immigration.
“Immigrant criminals.” “Illegal monsters.” “Murderers.” “Gang members.” “Toxifying our country.” “We’ll take your job.” “The greatest invasion in the history of our country.”
Throughout his political career, repetition has been central to Trump’s speeches. Research shows that the more times we hear a statement, the more it feels true.
The Marshall Project used a combination of computer-assisted text analysis and human reporting to process more than 350,000 public statements by President Trump from Factba.se. Reporters found 13 major claims about immigration, some of which the former president had repeated more than 500 times. They are all false or grossly misleading.
Our analysis found that these are among President Trump’s most repeated and noteworthy claims. Click on the link for a complete fact check on the Marshall Project.
Here are five things we can learn from a closer analysis.
Repeating it makes a false statement seem more true
When someone hears a statement repeatedly, it becomes difficult to even recognize that the statement is false.
Cognitive scientists call this the “illusion of truth effect.” The more someone hears a statement, the more likely they are to believe it. why is that? Repetition makes information easier to process and appears more true. A 2021 study found that repeating information up to nine times made it more believable for participants, and that repeating it further did not diminish the effect.
Falsely linking immigration to crime has been linked to efforts such as Secure Communities, a program that flags immigrants in the custody of local law enforcement agencies for deportation, and delegating some immigration enforcement duties to local law enforcement agencies.287 (g) resulting in actual policies such as programs; Experts say such policies are unworkable and distract from the conversation about the real causes and solutions.
Video clip source is Factba.se
President Trump has made at least 560 statements linking immigration and crime. An overwhelming body of consistent criminological research dating back to the 1870s shows that immigrants to the United States, both legal and illegal, commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans. Read our complete fact check for more information.
Illegal immigration is used to create doubt about election results
Immigration and crime claims are being used to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 and potentially 2024 general elections.
For example, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin accepted the 2020 results but expressed concerns about unpopular votes. In Texas, the right-wing group True the Vote is leading a campaign to challenge voter registration, forcing election officials to respond to thousands of challenges to prevent voters from being unfairly excluded.
The group is also challenging registration in states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Their campaign came as Republican-led states withdrew from reliable systems for maintaining accurate voter rolls.
Video clip source is Factba.se
President Trump has claimed at least 20 times that Democrats are intentionally encouraging unauthorized immigrants to vote illegally. There is no evidence that Democratic immigration policies led to a significant increase in non-referendum votes or provided any form of demographic advantage for the party. Read our complete fact check for more information.
Incendiary rhetoric normalizes hard-line policies
Scholars have pointed to the influence of scapegoated immigrants. Rhetoric from Mr. Trump and other politicians encourages increased xenophobia and racism in everyday conversations, and harsher government policies such as family separation and mass deportations.
Opinion polls show growing public support for tougher immigration measures. A July Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans supported cutting immigration, the highest in 20 years. Support for stricter border measures, such as ending asylum and expanding walls, increased, but support for a path to citizenship declined slightly.
State-level opinion polls also reflect this trend. For example, a recent poll in Arizona found that 63% of voters supported Proposition 314, which would make unauthorized border crossing a state crime.
Video clip source is Factba.se
President Trump has said at least 675 times that building a wall along the Mexican border is necessary and effective. The realities of building a border wall are complex, with barriers proving ineffective, costly to taxpayers, and encouraging more dangerous means of entry. Historically, many illegal immigrants have overstayed their legal visas, and even a wall will not prevent that. Read our complete fact check for more information.
Harris has a more positive tone despite supporting tough policies
Reporters reviewed and analyzed Vice President Kamala Harris’ public statements on immigration, but the data was limited to the period since she became the Democratic nominee. Her comments generally conveyed a more positive tone toward immigrants and asylum seekers compared to Trump’s.
“Innocent people.” “Children fleeing incredible violence.” “Displaced.” “Dreamers.” “Family.” “Muslim brothers and sisters.” “We are all immigrants.” is.”
Harris often cites her work prosecuting transnational gangs and supports the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Nevertheless, Ms. Harris has implemented what experts call the Democratic Party’s toughest immigration policies in a generation, including measures such as tightening border security and expanding immigrant detention centers, which Trump It does not come close to the extreme proposal of Harris also supported a border security bill that was stalled by President Trump, who opposed its potential benefits to Democrats.
Despite the evidence, immigrants are often scapegoated
Despite research showing that immigrants are not responsible for increased crime, politicians across party lines and countries continue to profit from blaming immigrants for social problems. University of Miami criminology professor Alex Piquero said studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans, pointing to a “dissonance” between data and political rhetoric. There is.
As President Trump emphasized at CPAC in 2020, “I could cross the wall and get elected twice,” he remains confident in the political power of his anti-immigrant rhetoric. That hasn’t happened yet.
