08/12/2024
Despite a decline in both violent crime and border crossings in 2024, Fox News has continually fixated on an alleged “migrant crime” wave, running nearly 1,000 weekday segments on the topic from January 1 through July 12. The network’s hosts, contributors, and guests have frequently pushed dangerous narratives labeling migrants as potential terrorists and invaders who are enabling criminal activity. [Media Matters, 2/29/24, 6/25/24, 7/16/24]
Multiple studies have found that there is no correlation between undocumented people and higher crime rates, and the rate of migrant crime is far less than that of U.S.-born citizens. According to the Brennan Center, “Numerous studies show that immigration is not linked to higher levels of crime, but rather the opposite. Studies have also examined the impact of the concentration of immigrants in a community on crime patterns, finding that immigration is associated with lower crime rates and an increase in structural factors — such as social connection and economic opportunity — that are linked to neighborhood safety.” NPR reports that Stanford University economist Ran Abramitzky also found that “since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people.” [NPR, 3/8/24; Brennan Center, 5/29/24]
Right-wing media have painted migrants as criminals, claiming they are “killers,” “invaders,” “serial sexual predators,” and “Third World animals”
On former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Infowars host Alex Jones said migrants are “here to destroy the country.” Jones proposed mass deportations, suggesting the military “round up the criminals first, and then you start going to the work sites and all the other places … and you grab them and you throw them in the back of a truck and you ship their ass out of here.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 3/13/24]
Fox News host Jesse Watters called migrants “serial sexual predators,” “serial killers,” and “Third World animals,” comparing migration to a terror attack. Watters said Biden is “catching and releasing killers and rapists, they’re pouring into the country,” and said they are “serial sexual predators, they’re serial killers, and they don't belong here. These are Third World animals.” Watters also compared migration to a “terror attack,” claiming, “Biden migrants are exploding all inside our country like IEDs.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/21/24]
Trump ally Laura Loomer said migrants are “invaders” who “just disappear … only to be seen again when their faces are plastered on the news after they commit heinous crimes like murder, r**e, human trafficking, assault, and drug dealing.” Loomer also suggested that Democrats embrace immigration because they want “white America” to be “punished by being replaced.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 6/7/24; NBC News, 1/14/24]
Reacting to a migrant accused of murder, Fox News contributor Paul Mauro proclaimed that “this has now morphed into biowarfare. These guys are smart weapons, they are bioweapons deployed against America.” In a later Fox appearance, Mauro again called migrants “bioweapons” and suggested immigration is a “form of terrorism.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 6/25/24; The Story with Martha MacCallum, 6/26/24]
Newsmax host Chris Plante ranted that Biden is letting in an “unfathomable number” of “entirely unvetted, most likely unvaccinated, unruly military-aged men, possibly criminals, gang members, disease-ridden, drug-smuggling, battle-tested, honestly, welfare-loving, illegal aliens storming across our southern border” who are “killing innocent Americans all over the place.” [Newsmax, Prime News, 6/19/24]
Newsmax host John Bachman later repeated almost the exact same script, adding, “Americans in every state are being impacted daily by the unfathomable number of illegals in this country.” Bachman claimed that there are “millions of unvetted, most likely unvaxxed … unruly military-aged males, possibly criminals, some disease-ridden, drug smugglers, battle-tested, welfare-loving liberals storming across our border.” [Newsmax, Prime News, 6/24/24]
Citing “a steady stream of foreign invaders and their American victims,” Fox host Greg Gutfeld suggested viewers should “vote like your life depends on it, maybe because it does.” [Fox News, Gutfeld!, 6/26/24]
Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller claimed on Fox that migrants are “above the law” and “being dumped into this country by the millions as they r**e and pillage and murder.” Miller continued, “Joe Biden’s flying them in day after day, busing them in, escorting them in to r**e and pillage and murder more Americans.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/21/24]
Tomi Lahren of Fox’s OutKick said that men from “Venezuelan gangs or from illegal immigrants, migrants, newcomers, whatever you want to call them” are “preying on young women” in the U.S. and targeting them because they are “the most vulnerable among us.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/21/24]
Right-wing radio host Todd Starnes warned migrants could stage an “October 7-style attack” in “smaller communities that may not have those resources.” A chyron underneath read “Illegal Immigration Is Poisoning American Society.” [Newsmax, Prime News, 6/17/24]
Fox News contributor Leo Terrell claimed that the Biden administration is “importing criminals.” Terrell said, “Every policy that Trump had in place was working, but this open border policy has basically allowed American women and men to be subject to criminal attacks by illegal aliens.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 7/3/24]
After reading a number of headlines involving migrants accused of crimes, Fox anchor Julie Banderas said that “something is wrong with you” if “it does not make your skin crawl and make you physically ill.” While introducing Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), Banderas said: “If you just heard me report all those cases of illegal immigrants that are in this country because of this White House, quite frankly, because of our open borders, and it does not make your skin crawl and make you physically ill, then something is wrong with you.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 7/3/24]
On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity declared he was “100% certain that another 9/11 is on the way” because of the Biden administration’s “open borders policies.” Hannity continued, “Nothing would make me happier to be wrong, but I don't believe I am. I'm pretty much 100% certain I'm going to be proven right.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/25/24]
Newsmax host Bianca de la Garza mentioned “the constant headlines about bloodthirsty murderers” while talking about “our broken borders.” She added, “They are ra**ng our children. They are killing innocent people with lethal drugs and shooting police officers, leaving families permanently broken.” [Newsmax, Prime News, 7/29/24]
On Hannity, Miller suggested that alleged migrant terrorists were planning attacks “in your cities … in your communities … in your neighborhoods.” Miller added, “They’re plotting. They’re scheming. They’re planning.” He also claimed Democrats “just want an open border no matter how much blood is spilled as a result.” [Fox News, Hannity, 8/5/24]
Right-wing media’s fixation with an alleged “migrant crime" wave has continued in 2024, even while violent crime and border crossings decline. In trying to make migrant crime a key election issue — the second day of the Republican National Convention was focused on crime and immigration — co...
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