Teorias conspiratórias racistas sobre imigrantes dominam o ciclo eleitoral

I n recent weeks, racist conspiracy theories about immigrants have dominated the 💷 election cycle. High-ranking Republicans have doubled down on unsubstantiated rumors about Black and brown migrants, tapping into anxieties that immigrants 💷 are responsible for increased crime in BR cities.

During last week's presidential debate, Donald Trump 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 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 claims are completely untrue.

Desinformação e xenofobia

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 2024 presidential election. The phenomenon of inaccurate news still occurs at alarming 💷 rates as people's online algorithms are largely driven by their political biases.

Jeffrey Layne Blevins, a journalism professor at the University 💷 of Cincinnati, states 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."

Imigrantes como bode expiatório

Republicans at all levels of government have linked immigrants 💷 to instances of violent crime, including drug smuggling and assault. During his campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Trump claimed 💷 Mexicans crossing the BR 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 "large sacks of drugs [from being thrown] over". During this 💷 election cycle, Trump has said that undocumented people are "animals" who are "poisoning the blood of our country", despite immigrants 💷 being significantly less likely 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 for the country. "It's a tactic that has been used historically to mobilize voters who 💷 feel threatened."

História de políticas anti-imigrantes

For centuries, Cadenas said, politicians built policy around the stereotype that immigrants are a "threat" to 💷 BR 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 BR immigration based on nationality. The Chinese Exclusion Act came largely after high-ranking union members 💷 warned of a "Chinese invasion" that would steal white, American jobs. Similarly, BR senators advised 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 passed laws allowing 💷 local law enforcement to target anyone they believed was in the country without documentation. Arizona Republicans called 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."

Consequências da desinformação

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, along with some local schools. Springfield hospitals are also on alert, 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."