There has been widespread fearmongering over immigration for many generations. Various harmful stereotypes misconstrue perceptions such as that non white immigrants are uneducated, hurt our economy, and have many ‘anchor babies’ that are just as likely to be criminals as their parents are. These generalizations refer back to the Replacement Theory, the belief that the country is being ‘invaded’ by minorities that attempt to replace whites economically, culturally, and demographically. The racist rhetoric surrounding minority immigration has spread to our government policies, leading to unnecessary and excessive violence from ICE and the DHS towards anyone suspected of being an immigrant or protecting one. Tears are smeared from the sidewalk they’re smothered with to the detention centers that ignore their human rights.
Addressing stereotypes surrounding immigrants of color is of great importance, as most, if not all, are broad generalizations that are misleading and overly simplistic. One common stereotype is that immigrants, especially those with Latin American roots, are less educated. However, data from the Pew Research Center shows that U.S.-born citizens were just as likely as foreign-born immigrants to obtain bachelor’s degrees, with 36 percent of each. Although it also shows on the chart that 49 percent of Mexican immigrants and 46 percent of Central American immigrants lack high school diplomas. There are a few reasons for this, such as financial disadvantage, language barriers, and culturally incompetent school personnel. Regarding the latter, some educators have a stereotypically negative view of Latino and Hispanic students, which typically leads to self-fulfilling prophecies for the students. One of the biggest stereotypes about immigrants is that they will hurt our economy, but much research shows very conflicting results. Council on Foreign Relations explains, “Most economists say that immigration is good for the U.S. economy because it helps grow the size of the labor force, boost tax revenue, and increase consumer demand.” They also elaborated on how undocumented immigrants generated $1.6 trillion in economic activity and paid nearly $76 billion in taxes in 2022. Some citizens even fear the fertility of immigrants and claim they use it to gain citizenship. This is not as easy as people tend to believe, as the child must be at least twenty-one to sponsor family members, who must prove they have been outside the U.S. for a minimum of ten years. The stereotype, fueled by fearmongering most of all, is that they are gang members and criminals. While there is a monocum of truth to this, there are gang members and criminals in many, if not all, populous groups. Oxford Economic Papers came out with a study that undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are 33 percent less likely to be incarcerated than citizens. So if all of these stereotypes can be easily refuted, how do they persist in our society?
The media, while a great source of community and connection, can also cause prejudice and division. One perilous consequence of this is that the Replacement Theory has been gaining traction online and building community in all the wrong ways. Britannica explains the conspiracy theory as,
replacement theory, in the United States and certain other Western countries whose populations are mostly white, a far-right conspiracy theory alleging, in one of its versions, that left-leaning domestic or international elites, on their own initiative or under the direction of Jewish co-conspirators, are attempting to replace white citizens with nonwhite (i.e., Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Arab) immigrants. The immigrants’ increased presence in white countries, as the theory goes, in combination with their higher birth rates as compared with those of whites, will enable new nonwhite majorities in those countries to take control of national political and economic institutions, to dilute or destroy their host countries’ distinctive cultures and societies, and eventually to eliminate the host countries’ white populations. Some adherents of replacement theory have characterized these predicted changes as “white genocide.”
The theory has been debunked time and time again, with findings that indicate that it’s simply a result of natural migration patterns driven by economic, political, and social factors, rather than a plot to “replace” native people. This may seem hard to believe, but in recent years, it has gained significant mainstream traction. For instance, television host Tucker Carlson overtly spoke about the theory, saying immigration will “change the racial mix of the country. … In political terms, this policy is called the ‘great replacement,’ the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries.” This gave fellow far-right figures such as Charlie Kirk, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), and many others the green light to discuss the racist theory openly. They use words like “invasion”, “IQ”, and “alien” to dehumanize immigrants and fearmonger citizens. We can see how normalized and ignored these statements are by looking at the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. In Charlie Kirk and America’s Political Collapse, by Shadi Hamid, it is explained how sanitized his legacy was, and that if someone brought up opposition, they were demonized regardless of the hate and misinformation Kirk spread. Their ignorance reveals how the Replacement theory can be neatly packaged to placate emotion. The manipulation is effective because it uses misplaced pride and insecurity to fuel resentment in everyday citizens.
This tactic has been so successful that it has turned deadly on many occasions. In 2022, Payton Gendron, a white man from Conklin, New York, drove two hours to Buffalo and shot ten people of color in a supermarket while livestreaming the tragedy. Police later found a manifesto he wrote that ranted about the replacement theory for 180 pages. In 2019, there were two mass shootings resulting in the deaths of 23 Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and 51 muslims in a mosque in New Zealand; both terrorists had manifestos directly talking about Replacement Theory. Underneath all the recent attention, there lies the forced sterilization, mostly consisting of black, Latino, and native american women. Berkeley Political Review has discussed how, throughout the 1900s, politicians used the same ideology of preserving the white race to sterilize 70,000 women by manipulating them, but mostly doing so without their consent. By the 1970s, a third of Puerto Rican women were sterilized because the U.S. told them a lower population would help their economy. This topic resurfaced in September 2020, when a detention center nurse came forward about the medical neglect and forced sterilizations within the facility. The real conspiracy theory here is how Western white supremacy feels it’s their god given right to be the dominant race. It will do anything to achieve that, even if it means allowing racially motivated violence to harm not just immigrants, but their own citizens as well.
We can see how eugenics and racism have been embedded in our government, and under the Trump administration, these ideological beliefs have made themselves more obvious. For instance, he openly frames immigrants as bringing too much crime into the country to enact many new immigration policies. This not only demonizes immigrants but also justifies detention while withholding due process. His foundational executive order declares there is an “invasion” of “aliens”. It seals the border, barring any access, including asylum seekers and anyone posing a public health risk, with no specification of said risk. This laid down the groundwork for “detaining, to the maximum extent authorized by law, aliens apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law, until such time as they are removed from the United States.” Meaning they can take anyone that is suspected, not convicted of breaking any laws, denying their right to a fair trial. It also raises financial gain exponentially for for-profit prisons. Another order calls for law enforcement to detain “to the maximum extent permitted by law” while simultaneously federally defunding “sanctuary” jurisdictions that do not cooperate with immigration enforcement. They nationally expanded expedited removal, which originally allowed low-level immigration officers to deport newly arrived undocumented immigrants near the border back to Mexico without due process. Officers nationwide can now strip due process from undocumented immigrants who fit the criteria, regardless of whether they are currently under regular deportation proceedings. A disorienting amount of policies continue to come out, such as using armed forces to deport and detain, rollbacks on parole, Temporary Protected Status, and Safe Mobility Programs, Suspension of Development Aid and Humanitarian Assistance Worldwide, and even threats to birthright citizenship. These devastating policies have led to a rampage from ICE and DHS officials. They have been busting down doors, aiming firearms at bystanders, and pinning suspected undocumented immigrants to the concrete as they walk down the street. A CBS reporter was outside a detention facility, not during a protest, and a pepper ball was fired at her car, leaving her vomiting for hours. A paster was also hit in the head by a pepper ball. Before ICE raided and arrested 12 people in a Chicago apartment complex, they also shot a woman and killed a man, who they claimed were interfering with and threatening officers. The body cam footage from the officer told a very different story.
There has been a growing concern about the conditions in which the immigrants are subjected, with human rights violations against the centers being raised across the country. One prominent example is the lawsuit filed by the ACLU against California’s largest detention center. They accuse them of neglecting and abusing the detainees’ basic human rights in various ways. The ACLU claims the living conditions consist of dirty housing units, a lack of food and water, and freezing temperatures. There’s immense isolation with restrictive family visitation, no access to programming, and excessive solitary confinement. They neglect people with disabilities by withholding sign language interpreters, wheelchairs, and many other necessities. The center is infringing on their right to religion as they confiscate prayer mats, headcoverings, and holy books. Access to their immigration council is jarring as they have to wait weeks for legal calls and even longer periods for in-person meetings. The most deadly and common allegation seen against these detention centers is the insufficient medical care. Facilities deprive people with cancer, fatal heart conditions, diabetes, and many other detrimental conditions from receiving the dire treatment necessary. The combination of these conditions and overcrowding in the facilities has led to 20 deaths as of October 18th. These abuses are, unfortunately, very tame compared to the CECOT prison in El Salvador.
The dehumanization and abuse are not confined only to American soil. Trump extended the persecution overseas to CECOT, the megaprison in El Salvador, by invoking the Alien Enemies Act. This led to 251 Venezuelans being deported to the prison, claiming they were a part of the declared terrorist organization Tren de Aragua. Without due process, there was no way to back up the accusations definitively. Each of them refuted the allegations, stating they were just migrants seeking a better life. Through an investigation by Human Rights Watch, they were unable to find any criminal record for many of them. When they arrived at the prison, they were greeted by the director, who said, “You have arrived in Hell.” They were then hit on the legs with batons to kneel and have their heads shaved. The prisoners were subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention, inadequate food, denial of basic hygiene and sanitation, and no recreational or educational activities. They were harshly beaten constantly over little things like speaking too loudly or showering at the wrong time, and even when asking for medical treatment. The verbal abuse was constant, and guards would often try to convince prisoners to kill themselves because it was the only way out. One person came forward about being sexually abused by four guards while in solitary confinement, likely with many more prisoners staying silent due to the stigma around male victims. They continue to unfold many horrific stories of these migrants who were only able to share their stories due to a prisoner exchange between Venezuela and El Salvador. All of this torture and humiliation simply because a large group of Americans were taught these stereotypes and theories from the media and prominent political figures. Hatred and ignorance are fueling the demise of our empathetic humanity and democracy.
The Trump administration’s new immigration policies have sullied our great nation’s reputation for humanitarianism and freedom-fighting. They have perpetuated harmful stereotypes that are driven by the racist rhetoric of the Replacement Theory, leading to the destruction of countless innocent community and family members’ lives. Not only do they ruin livelihoods, but they also subjugate them to animal-like treatment and conditions, even to the extent of intensive psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. We as Americans cannot continue to look the other way as our fellow human suffers at the hands of our leaders. Many Americans believe the matter is out of their hands; however, there are numerous ways to advocate for those suffering. First and foremost, vote in any election, no matter how small, with a well-researched decision. Secondly, boycott the companies that push this ideology, such as Spotify, as they are currently running ICE recruitment ads. Thirdly, consider volunteering for various political and activist organizations that fight for immigrant rights. Lastly, use your voice and protest. Many fear going to protests as they see officials instigating and attempting to stoke chaos, but as a nation, we cannot allow the government to silence our peaceful and valuable voices. It can be as simple as a conversation with friends and family, or sending and reposting credible articles on social media to spread awareness. America has toppled evil mindsets and beliefs before; we can change the trajectory just as we have time and again in the past.
Works Cited
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