At the Republican National Convention, the right wing continued to spread lies about immigrants to fuel fear among conservative working people. Texas senator, Ted Cruz, repeated the same old anti-immigrant rhetoric, claiming that, “We are facing an invasion on our southern border – not figuratively, a literal invasion.” Republican House Speaker of Louisiana, Mike Johnson, made all immigrants out to be predatory, exclaiming, “[we] cannot allow the many millions of illegal aliens they’ve [the Democratic Party] allowed across our borders to harm our citizens, drain our resources, or disrupt our elections.” Highlight speaker, Donald Trump pinned the “misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities” on the so-called “immigration crisis.”
Throughout the convention, right-wing politicians hid behind false or isolated anecdotes to scapegoat immigrants. They completely ignore any studies showing that immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crime than those born in the U.S. that expose their deception.
In reality, conservative politicians and the wealthy people that they represent, sprawl anti-immigrant sentiment because they see that it works to manipulate and widen divisions among working people. Rather than admitting to policies that fuel unemployment, poverty, and violence due to said precarity, in rural and poor communities, the rich put the blame on innocent people experiencing forced migration. Rather than reveal that bosses would rather hire undocumented people who they can pay less and exploit more that white citizens with more rights, the right wing fabricates that “illegal aliens are stealing American jobs.” The conservative working class is kept distracted, hating on migrant workers, blaming them for their problems.
If we can learn anything from the Republic National Convention, it is that the right-wing will not stop. They will continue to make policies that make the living and working conditions of all communities worse and point the finger at immigrants. The right-wing will do so whether those of us that see through their lies choose to do something about it or not. The only chance we have at ending their deception and uniting the working class is if we chose to act and organize. As the attacks and violence against undocumented people, and the working and poor people as a whole worsens, it it now more urgent than ever to organize the fight against the right wing and the bosses.
