Right-Wing Media’s Drumbeat of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment this Summer

Mary Zoch, Communications Fellow at the Immigration Hub

In June and July, right-wing media outlets, like Fox News and Newsmax, ramped up their negative rhetoric and misinformation on immigration, reaching millions of people across the country each month. From digital media to broadcast TV, frequent claims of a “wide open” border fueled the narrative of an “invasion” of immigrants, with coverage hyper-focused on the border and portraying immigrants as threats to public safety. Despite the fact that voters largely reject these narratives and crave a balanced approach that addresses border concerns while providing pathways to citizenship, anti-immigrant rhetoric remains central to the GOP’s broader ecosystem of ant-immigrant media.

According to data collected by Critical Mention, there were over 7,000 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets during June and July. The various media containing these mentions received over 38 billion views and earned an estimated $1.1 billion in publicity. The Immigration Hub recently published data collected by AdImpact revealing that July had the highest GOP spending on anti-immigrant ads so far this year. Right-wing sites mirrored this trend, with Fox News, Daily Caller, Newsmax and adjacent outlets embracing similar rhetoric across their channels.

Throughout June and July, right-wing media sites infused anti-immigrant buzzwords into their coverage, especially discourse surrounding the upcoming presidential election:

• The words “illegal immigrant(s)” and “illegal immigration” were mentioned nearly 2,000 times across right-wing media sites, including Fox News, Newsmax, and Washington Examiner. 
• Right-wing media framed Democrats and the Biden administration as standing for “open borders” and allowing an “invasion” of immigrants, mentioning those words over 1,300 times. 
• In their campaign of criminalizing immigrants and tying those seeking asylum at the border to drug trafficking, right-wing media sites mentioned “fentanyl” over 450 times in relation to immigration. 

Right-wing media attempted to label VP Harris as the “border czar” in July, mentioning the phrase over 455 times: 

Source: Critical Mention TV, radio, online, print, and podcasts 07/1/2024 - 07/31/2024

The right-wing media’s use of “border czar” spiked when President Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed VP Harris, demonstrating their attempt to degrade Harris's immigration record by saturating their audience with the mischaracterization. 

In June, right-wing voices and media outlets pushed an excessive amount of media framing immigrants at the border as terrorists, peddling the baseless narrative that America's interior faces an imminent threat of attack. Sites amplified Donald Trump’s extremist agenda, especially during the Biden-Trump debate. In July, right-wing media leaned into lies about VP Harris’s record on immigration and continued to push their "border crisis" narrative. Right-wing media and GOP talkers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, also began spreading misinformation about noncitizen voting ahead of the election. During both months, sites across the right-wing media ecosystem continued to tie immigrants to crime, pushing the narrative that immigration threatens American communities. These narratives were amplified during the RNC as right-wing voices touted Trump's promise of mass arrests and deportation of immigrants across the country.

The right-wing media ecosystem is a key component of the GOP’s sophisticated, multi-billion dollar misinformation machine, intended not just to spread xenophobic narratives throughout conservative spheres, but mainstream ones as well. As we’ve written previously, the GOP’s saturation of anti-immigrant rhetoric is crucial to understanding why immigration has become such a key issue for voters this cycle. The digital and broadcast media arm of this misinformation machine is driven by the right’s top media outlets, politicians, TV personalities, and influencers. They posture on the issue, exploiting voters' unfamiliarity with America's immigration system, and use the galvanizing language noted above to inject fear into the electorate. The combined strategy of (1) Republican spending on anti-immigrant advertising and (2) right-wing media’s relentless negative spin on the border and immigrants is aimed at picking off persuadable voters who haven’t heard from Democrats on the issue. 

Given the enormity of the GOP's messaging advantage on immigration, including massive disparities in ad spending where anti-immigrant narratives run rampant, it’s crucial for VP Harris and Democrats to champion a balanced approach that addresses border security and pathways to citizenship. In fact, Democrats’ strongest contrast is actually the most effective message to persuade voters – their commitment to keeping families together.