In Ohio U.S. Senate contest, little concern about alarmist immigration language

An immigrant family wades through the Rio Grande while crossing from Mexico into the United States on Sept. 30, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images).

Experts who study extremism say the incendiary claim that there’s an “invasion” coming from Mexico will motivate more racist violence like the massacre that happened in an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

But those worries seem to have made little impression on either candidate in the Ohio race for U.S. Senate, one of the most hotly contested in the country. The Trump-endorsed Republican nominee is fully embracing alarmist claims of an “invasion,” while his Democratic opponent seems reluctant to condemn it.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Border Patrol encounters with undocumented migrants swelled to unprecedented levels — about 300,000 a month — late last year before dropping down to under 200,000 so far this year. The surge certainly caused problems.

“These are numbers we have not seen; there’s really a global asylum crisis,” Edward Alden, an immigration expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a virtual press conference with reporters last Tuesday. 

He explained that a huge surge began after the expiration of COVID-era restrictions against people crossing the border and seeking asylum.

“The numbers just overwhelmed” the U.S. infrastructure to deal with asylum seekers, Alden said.

But while the system to deal with all those migrants might be groaning under the strain, there’s no evidence that undocumented migrants are more dangerous than natural born American citizens. In fact, the available evidence suggests just the opposite — despite Donald Trump’s relentless hyping of individual crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. 

Even now that border encounters have dropped back to pandemic-era levels, Trump continues to use words like “bloodbath” as he describes an “invasion” at the border. 

“It is definitely the national Republican strategy to run against immigration in 2024,” said Ruth Conniff, editor-in-chief of States Newsroom’s Wisconsin Examiner, who wrote a book about the indispensable role of undocumented immigrants in the dairy industry in her state. She was speaking as part of the virtual press conference hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Impressions and reality

Apparently as part of that strategy, many candidates are whipping up fears of an “invasion” and traveling to the border for photo-ops in flak jackets, creating the impression that it’s a free-fire zone. Such images belie the fact that most border cities have far less violent crime than those in the states where the politicians live.

“El Paso is one of the safest cities not in spite, but because it is a city of immigrants,” Beto O’Rourke, who has represented the city both in Congress and on city council, said in a recent interview.

But when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tries to take immigration-enforcement powers into state hands, he’s claiming that Texas is the subject of an “invasion” in the constitutional sense of the word. Many legal experts — and a federal judge — have said that means a military invasion.

A visit to the border late last month revealed no evidence of such an invasion. In fact, on a Saturday afternoon drive around El Paso, it was hard even to find many undocumented immigrants — although spotters for coyotes were regularly peering over the Mexican side of a mountain into nearby Sunland Park, N.M, trying to see if the coast was clear to send migrants.

Despite the lack of evidence of a military invasion, Ohio GOP U.S. Senate nominee Bernie Moreno has shifted his stance on immigration. 

In 2016, the Cleveland businessman and Colombian immigrant criticized Trump’s rhetoric and advocated “common sense” immigration reform. But he’s since gotten Trump’s endorsement in the closely watched Senate race and he’s embracing the GOP presidential nominee’s rhetoric.

“No matter how badly the establishment media wants to claim otherwise to protect Joe Biden and (Democratic Ohio U.S. Sen.) Sherrod Brown, over 7 million illegals flooding into our country since 2021 is indeed an invasion,” Moreno said in an email. “Every crime committed by an illegal is a crime that should have never happened in the first place. If you don’t think crime from illegal immigrants is something to be concerned about, then you should tell that to the family of Laken Riley” — a 22-year-old Georgia college student allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant.

Moreno added, “It’s embarrassing how the media continues to twist President Trump’s statements about illegal immigration in an attempt to deflect from the damage Biden and Sherrod Brown have caused to our country with their open border policies.”

Moreno might say it’s open, but the southern border is more fortified than it’s ever been, with the number of Border Patrol agents quadrupling since 1992, miles of new fences and other barriers, ever more sophisticated surveillance, and last year’s record number of apprehensions.

Not much pushback

For his part, Brown seemed reluctant to condemn the heated language Trump and his followers have been using to depict what’s happening at the border. Experts who study it say such “dangerous speech” is used by white nationalists to inflame extreme listeners and intimidate others from participating in civic life.

A Brown spokesperson was asked if the senator agreed that what’s happening at the border is an invasion — and if he was concerned that its use would lead to more racist violence. The spokesperson was also asked if Brown condemned Trump for describing undocumented immigrants as “animals” and saying they’re “poisoning the blood” of the country.

The spokesperson didn’t answer directly, saying, “Senator Brown is working with Republicans and Democrats to secure the southern border, stop fentanyl from coming into the country, and keep our country safe. Sen. Brown was a key backer of the bipartisan border security bill, which earned the endorsement of border agents and would have given law enforcement the tools and resources they need to finally secure the border.”

The bipartisan bill earned the endorsement of the Border Patrol union and would have beefed up immigration infrastructure. But most Republicans abandoned it earlier this year when Trump told them not to give Democrats anything that could be interpreted as an election-year win.

Brown seemed to continue in his reluctance to push back on inciting rhetoric — and to explain actions of his own that could be seen as portraying the border as a war zone. 

In November, he traveled to there with an Ohio sheriff. His office gave WDTN in Dayton photos of the senator in a Texas Department of Public Safety boat in the Rio Grande wearing a bullet-proof vest. That agency has played a long role in the debate over how dangerous the border really is. It’s also questionable how helpful its actions in the name of border security have been. (After this story originally appeared, Brown’s office said that the senator was required by law enforcement to wear the vest.)

Brown’s office didn’t respond when asked why the senator thought he needed to wear tactical gear and whether he was concerned participating in such photo ops might give the false impression that the border and the people who live there are more dangerous than they really are. 

Asked again whether Brown condemned Trump’s border invective, the spokesperson said, “Sen. Brown believes it’s time to stop the divisive language, name-calling and political games and work together on real solutions to secure the border.”

That’s too little, too late, said Lindsay Schubiner, who studies violent speech and movements at the Western States Center, an anti-extremism group.

“Bigoted ‘invasion’ rhetoric that echoes great replacement theory and generates anti-immigrant sentiment has real world consequences — both for our communities that are put at risk of violence, and our democracy that requires the safety and participation of all,” she said Friday in a text message. “If politicians continue to incite fear of immigrants and treat the border like a war zone, it won’t be a matter of if another attack like those in El Paso and Pittsburgh happens, but when.” 

She added, “As this dangerous rhetoric becomes increasingly normalized, it’s imperative our elected officials not feed into it. Instead, they should use the power of their office to firmly reject it, whether it comes from white nationalists or their colleagues.”

The post In Ohio U.S. Senate contest, little concern about alarmist immigration language appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal.