from Anti-Defamation League's Report: Immigrants
Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves into the Mainstream
About This Report
Immigration remains a deeply polarizing issue in American politics and
public life. Serious policy questions remain about the best way to
reform America’s immigration system but the debate has also been
framed, at times, by vitriolic anti-immigrant – and particularly
anti-Latino – rhetoric and propaganda. Purveyors of this extremist
rhetoric use stereotypes and outright bigotry to target immigrants and
hold them responsible for numerous societal ills.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which previously has
documented how extremist groups like the
Ku
Klux Klan and neo-Nazis have exploited the immigration issue to
advance their own agenda, has become increasingly concerned about the
virulent anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric employed by a handful
of groups and coalitions that have positioned themselves as legitimate,
mainstream advocates against illegal immigration in America.
In 2008, these anti-immigrant advocates have attempted to
reinvigorate the immigration debate by forming new coalitions. At a
press conference announcing its formation, one coalition openly joined
together local citizen groups located far from the Mexican/United
States border with virulently anti-Latino border vigilante groups that
send armed volunteers to patrol the border. Another coalition has run
mainstream newspaper ads that exploit the American public’s concerns
about the environment by blaming immigrants for traffic congestion,
damage to the public infrastructure, and high fuel prices. These
coalitions are attempting to broaden their base and legitimize their
views through media outreach.
In addition, local citizen groups continue to
hold rallies and events where speakers routinely blame undocumented
immigrants and their children for a wide range of problems from
“dumbing down” American schools to depleting community resources, to
being the main cause of crime and disease in this country. The
demonization of immigrants has led to an increased sense of fear in
communities around the country and created a toxic environment in which
hateful rhetoric targeting immigrants has become routine.
Unlike the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, who make no attempt
to hide their racism and bigotry, these anti-immigrant groups and
coalitions often use more subtle language to demonize immigrants and
foreigners. They are frequently quoted in the media, have been called
to testify before Congress, and often hold meetings with lawmakers and
other public figures. However, under the guise of warning people about
the impact of illegal immigration, anti-immigrant advocates often
invoke the same dehumanizing, racist stereotypes as hate groups. And
increasingly, they do not make a distinction between illegal and legal
immigrants.
A closer look at the public record reveals that some of these
supposedly mainstream organizations have disturbing links to, or
relationships with, extremists in the anti-immigration movement. Often
identified in the media or their mission statements as “anti-illegal
immigration advocacy groups,” they attempt to distort the debate over
immigration by fomenting fear and spreading unfounded propaganda
through the use of several key tactics:
- Describing immigrants as “third world invaders,”
who come to America to destroy our heritage, “colonize” the country and
attack our “way of life.” This charge is used against Latinos, Asians
and other people of color.
- Using terminology that describes immigrants as
part of “hordes” that “swarm” over the border. This dehumanizing
language has become common.
- Portraying immigrants as carriers of diseases
like leprosy, tuberculosis, Chagas disease (a potentially fatal
parasitic disease), dengue fever, polio, malaria.
- Depicting immigrants as criminals, murderers,
rapists, terrorists, and a danger to children and families.
- Propagating conspiracy theories about an alleged
secret “reconquista” plot by Mexican immigrants to create a “greater
Mexico” by seizing seven states in the American Southwest that once
belonged to Mexico.
- Blaming immigrants for eroding American culture,
institutions and quality of life and impacting our environment and
natural resources.
In this report, part of a series of reports on immigration and
extremism, ADL exposes those individuals and groups who are playing a
key a role in mainstreaming extremist rhetoric in the immigration
debate in various aspects of American life.
On Monday evening, 14-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca was shot and killed by a Border Patrol Officer at an international bridge near downtown El Paso, Texas. The boy was unarmed, but the officer claims he used deadly force in self-defense. Meanwhile, witnesses claim that Sergio was running from the agent when lethal bullet struck his head..
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