NYTimes investigation highlights new details in coordinated right-wing and GOP operation focused on fake problem of immigrant voting
Washington, DC — A New York Times investigative story by Ken Bensinger, “A Mysterious Flier, a Tiny Charity and a Disinformation Campaign at the Border,” digs into the details and implications of an orchestrated right-wing disinformation effort promoted by the Heritage Foundation designed to stoke fear over the made up problem of non-citizens voting illegally. As America’s Voice has been highlighting, the continued elevation of this type of anti-immigrant falsehood and conspiracy is dangerous and ties into larger efforts that lay the groundwork for delegitimizing our democracy and the electoral process.
The Times story adds more details and evidence about the mid-April coordination between right-wing activists and organizations who, during the Secretary Mayorkas impeachment push, joined with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and several other Members of Congress to hype details about an obviously falsified “flier” allegedly given by an allegedly Jewish-affiliated immigrant relief organization to migrants crossing the border urging them to vote for President Biden – a disinformation scheme that sought to build “evidence” of the “replacement” theory narrative that Democrats are allowing in immigrants illegally so that they can vote in November, diluting the power of “real” Americans. The flier was so transparently fictional that even the border hawks at Fox News, including Bill Melugin, dismissed it as suspect (see America’s Voice assessment from mid-April here), but that didn’t stop multiple Members of Congress and from lifting up the Heritage Foundation-promoted dirty trick as fact.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director at America’s Voice:
“This incident is more concrete evidence of how the right-wing and Republican allies are coordinating a larger strategy to weaponize xenophobic fears and disinformation in an election year to advance the replacement conspiracy and lie that elections are rigged. Trump has focused the entire party and its strategy on his white grievance narrative. And in this case, it is part of a bigger effort to lay the groundwork for delegitimizing the electoral process, facilitate election denial and undermine trust in our democracy. All of this threatens to spark real world consequences, including justifying more political violence.”
Read the New York Times story by Ken Bensinger, “A Mysterious Flier, a Tiny Charity and a Disinformation Campaign at the Border”
Read America’s Voice: “Fabricated Flier a New Low in Congressional Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Democratic Conspiracy Narrative”
Read America’s Voice: “Sham Mayorkas Impeachment a Mainstream Platform for Dangerous Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Semitic Conspiracies”
