Key Points: Trump and Vance’s unsparing deportation plan of and long-settled immigrants is the most consequential immigration topic; GOP has spent more than $472M on negative immigration ads, including dangerous “invasion” conspiracy.
When Republicans advance the lie about non-citizen voting or use immigration to sow doubts about election integrity:
- Our electoral system already has safeguards in place to ensure our elections are secure. Studies show that non-citizens illegally voting is almost nonexistent. Per the Cato Institute, less than 1 percent and closer to 0 is the percentage of non-citizens who have ever registered to vote let alone tried to vote.
- The election lie about non-citizen voting is a political attack that seeks to fuel election denialism and encourage another violent Jan. 6-style attack on our democracy while creating a pretext for restrictive laws and lawsuits that seek to disenfranchise eligible U.S. citizen voters.
- Read this Univision op-ed from Vanessa Cárdenas, “How Trump’s relentless anti-immigrant focus is tied to his threats to democracy,” read our fact sheet on the myth of non-citizen voting and watch a recording of the recent press briefing with America’s Voice, the Brennan Center for Justice, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, UnidosUS, and Declaration for American Democracy
When Republicans highlight their mass deportation plans:
- The Trump team plans to deport every undocumented immigrant. That means, “no one is off the table,” as they have made clear, and that includes Dreamers and other long-settled immigrants, in addition to recent arrivals. Trump has pledged that “getting them out will be a bloody story.”
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- They also have been promising to make as many immigrants as possible deportable, no matter their current legal status or whether they have deep roots in this nation – from Haitians with TPS to Dreamers with DACA to spouses of U.S. citizens eligible for the Keeping Families Together (Parole in Place) process. They even have been advancing the chilling concept of “denaturalization” and “remigration.”
- A mass roundup, military detention camps and mass deportation would tear apart communities and involve red-state National Guard troops going door-to-door in blue-state communities throughout America to detain, purge, and deport millions.
- Mass deportation would be economically catastrophic, destroying vital American industries, skyrocketing inflation, and evicting millions of homeowners, entrepreneurs, essential workers, healthcare providers, and teachers.
- See this excellent Boston Globe op-ed from leading expert Michael Ettlinger, “Trump’s plan to vaporize the economy” for more and these two detailed papers by Ettlinger and economist Robert Lynch summarize the economic and social science research on the impact of past mass deportation efforts here and here. Also read this Washington Monthly deep-dive on the economic toll of mass deportation.
When Vance and Republicans attempt to defend their lies and scare tactics about Haitians in Ohio and Pennsylvania
- Vance and Republicans’ recent vile and dehumanizing lies about Haitians continued despite knowing they were false and despite vocal pushback from Vance’s fellow Ohio Republicans
- Potential violence and threats have predictably followed – such as bomb threats and school closures and intimidation directed at both Haitian community members and even “lifelong Republican” business owners who spoke positively about Haitian workers.
- As reported, Vance continued to advance these lies about his own constituents even after knowing they were false.
When Republicans highlight crimes and the tragic killings of U.S. citizens by immigrants:
- The data is clear: immigrants and immigration are not correlated with crime. Crime has fallen, and claims of an increase in crime rates committed by migrants have been widely and repeatedly debunked.
- It’s also true that Donald Trump and allies have been using isolated crimes committed by immigrants for attempted political gain in a manner that seeks to stir hate and fear – strategic racism.
- It’s an ugly tactic with a sordid history designed to advance a narrative that migrants and asylum seekers are dangerous threats when the facts demonstrate otherwise (in study after study, and study, and study, and more study, the facts are clear: immigrants have lower crime rates than the rest of the population)
When Republicans discuss an immigration “invasion” or that immigrants are “replacing” white Americans conspiracy theory:
- Remember the direct link between violent anti-immigrant rhetoric and real life violence. Mainstreaming dangerous conspiracies that have been echoed in mass shootings by domestic terrorists in El Paso, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and elsewhere should be unacceptable.
- According to AV analysis of AdImpact data, Republican-aligned campaigns have spent more than $472M on ads with negative immigration mentions so far this year – more than twice as much as 2022 and 11 times as much as 2020 over the same period.
- At least $40.7M has been spent on 83 unique ads that peddle the white nationalist “invasion” rhetoric.
When Republicans attack the Biden-Harris team for granting “mass amnesty”:
- There is no mass amnesty; there is a vision for a balanced approach to secure our border and offer legal pathways that the American public overwhelmingly supports.
- The recent Biden executive actions are common sense measures to allow law-abiding spouses of U.S. citizens and Dreamer college graduates new opportunities to stay and contribute to this country.
- These are exactly the people the Trump plan would seek to separate through the mass deportation agenda.
When Republicans promise Trump would “fix” immigration in his second term:
- Trump’s second-term immigration vision would be a disaster for all Americans. Beyond his unsparing mass deportation plans, Trump and Republicans are lining up behind a set of immigration policies that would slash legal immigration, destroy American industries, and break apart, rather than modernize, our immigration system.
- Read the Niskanen Center’s assessment of Project 2025 and immigration, which includes proposals to block federal financial aid for “up to two-thirds of all American college students” if their state permits Dreamers to access in-state tuition, repealing TPS and terminating DACA status for Dreamers by eliminating resources for processing renewal applications, and eviscerating legal immigration by suspending application intakes.
When Republicans claim the border was “secure” during Trump’s term:
- Trump spent billions on a useless wall that could be overcome with a $50 saw.
- Throughout 2019 under Trump border encounters were the highest in more than a decade, spiking to about triple the totals of when he took office. And in December 2020 – in Trump’s final full month as president – border encounters were at the highest level for a December in more than two decades and had been rising for months.
- Global migration is complicated and border numbers – under Trump and under Biden – remind us why we need a full immigration overhaul from Congress to address 21st century migration, but that Trump and Republicans keep blocking a legislative fix.
When Republicans try to whitewash other parts of Trump’s immigration record:
- Trump’s first term on immigration was a cruel and chaotic failure (see here). He dismantled our immigration system – the asylum process, visa channels, the refugee program, among others – which has contributed to the broken system we see today.
- His first-term policies included:
- Damaging policies that separated toddlers from their parents at the border; banning Muslim and African families from entering America, even with approved visas; funneling billions toward an ineffective border wall breached by a $20 handsaw; attacking legal and lawful immigration and slashing new arrivals to the U.S. precipitously; and ugly attacks on popular and successful policies like the DACA program for Dreamers.
When Republicans claim immigrants are responsible for the fentanyl crisis:
- The opioid crisis is inflicting a devastating blow to our families and communities. We need real solutions to address this problem, not scapegoating immigrants and asylum seekers. The fentanyl crisis is a public health crisis and needs a public health solution.
- Illicit fentanyl is predominantly brought in by U.S. citizens for U.S. citizen consumption and is smuggled in alongside commercial traffic.
- Trump coddled China’s leader who did nothing to stop Chinese export of fentanyl ingredients to Mexico. At the same time, Congressional Republicans refused to pass legislation that dealt with increased enforcement against fentanyl smugglers.
- There is no correlation between the number of migrants seeking safety at the border and fentanyl seizures. Nor is immigration correlated with increased levels of crime.
- While Vance has used the fentanyl issue for political advantage – even employing fraud – Vice President Harris has proposed specific steps she will take as President to address the importation of fentanyl and treatment for people who are addicted.
When Republicans claim Biden, Harris or Democrats are putting “illegals” ahead of Americans:
- Recall how Donald Trump and the Trump organization hired and exploited undocumented workers as part of a multi-state criminal conspiracy that stretched back decades (see here and video here).
Five Things to Know About J.D. Vance:
- For more on the GOP VP Pick, read AV’s: “Five Things to Know About J.D. Vance”
