Republicans raise the spectre of violence and crime to denounce the “invasion” of the border

As if it were a rerun of a docudrama true crimeRepublicans have again linked the migration crisis with criminality as inseparable realities this Tuesday in Milwaukee, even though the data insist on proving otherwise. They did so on the second day of the party’s national convention, under the slogan Make America Safe Once Again(Make America Safe Again), a MAGA knock-off (Make America Great Again) that articulates the Trumpist revolution as a rallying cry. The image could not be clearer: the border as the scene of an “invasion” of foreigners due to Joe Biden’s supposed open-door policy, mixing few statistics – almost none – with conspiracy theories, such as the supposed Democratic initiative to allow foreigners to vote. A twist to reality, on a rough and combative night, to demonstrate that Donald Trump’s electoral program, which has promised a draconian policy of raids, detention camps and mass deportations, is the right one to put a stop to the situation.

Keri Lake, a Senate candidate from Arizona and close to Trump, opened fire, prompting the first chants of “raise the wall,” a classic at the former president’s rallies. Lake echoed a conspiracy theory widely spread among convention attendees that immigrants are entering the country to steal the election. “Ruben Gallego [su rival demócrata en el Estado] “I voted to allow the millions of people who entered our country illegally to vote in the upcoming election,” he said, without evidence, a hoax repeated in speeches by Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Lake offered fodder to the audience, peppering his speech with furious attacks on the press and the fake newswhen there are many that articulate her discourse. The Republican repeated for years Trump’s lies about the electoral fraud that she said she was the victim of in 2020 and maintained, also without evidence, that the Democrats rigged the election for governor of Arizona that she lost in 2022. In April, she called on Republicans to arm themselves for the elections.

Lake was the first of several Senate candidates to take the floor on Tuesday afternoon, with a speech interspersed with the basic ideas of the Republican platform: closing the border with Mexico, fighting Biden’s economic policy and ending what she called the “indoctrination” of children, in reference to the cultural wars that have turned US schools into trenches. She also called for ending illegal drug trafficking, which she linked to undocumented immigrants, when according to the DEA, most drug trafficking convictions fall on US citizens. Lake scored a dubious verbal finding, Biden invasionwelcomed with joy by the audience.

Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, like Lake, also described migration as an “invasion,” although the numbers have plummeted in recent months. Of Colombian origin, he stressed that his family had arrived in the US “legally,” something that Americans of immigrant origin repeat to attack new arrivals, and that the American dream that is his life is in danger due to Biden’s immigration policy. In a display of chauvinism, Wisconsin senatorial candidate Eric Huffed defined the US as “the best country in history,” a start seconded by Jim Banks (Indiana), which fits with Trump’s nationalist and autarchic vision. Banks normalized the policy of mass deportations that the Republican candidate plans to apply if he wins in November. “If you came here illegally with Joe Biden, you will return to the place where you came from with Donald Trump,” he said. In addition to the immigration issue, almost none of the speakers shied away from attacking the Democratic administration for inflation, electric cars, the high cost of housing or the turbulent withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, all in the same bag.

Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who has been particularly combative on the House Education Committee on campus anti-Semitism, went on a tirade that mixed together the supposed invasion of foreigners, rising violence, the sad existence of safe haven cities like New York, and the takeover of the nation’s campuses by pro-Palestinian protesters. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, number two The House of Representatives’ House Committee, which outlines the hardline agenda that Republicans want to enact if they regain control of Congress and the White House, baselessly claimed that the Biden-Harris administration “has opened the border to the entire world.”

The main event came from Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who eight years ago snubbed Trump at the Republican convention and today knelt at his feet, although the reversal did not spare him boos from the audience. Cruz considerably raised the rhetoric, calling immigration a “literal invasion” of the United States and listing examples of bloody acts allegedly committed by immigrants. “Every day Americans die. Murders, assaults, rapes at the hands of illegal immigrants that the Democrats have unleashed,” he said, adding the refrain: “Every damn day.” Like the case of Rachel Morin, from Maryland, who, according to prosecutors, was murdered and raped by a citizen of El Salvador and whose story has been frequently mentioned by Trump on the campaign trail; her brother took the stand to tell his story.[La Administración demócrata] “She even promoted a fund to free criminals from prison. It is not reported much in our media, but a criminal that Kamala Harris freed in Minneapolis ended up murdering a man in Minnesota,” said Tom Emmer, representative of that last state, without evidence.

Finally, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and the most conspicuous corpse of these primaries, but still very popular among the audience, declared: “We oppose any immigration that deviates from or contrasts with our American values.” DeSantis has attacked undocumented foreigners in his state with very restrictive laws.

Immigration is a political hallmark of former President Donald Trump, which helped him win over the Republican Party base when he began his first campaign in 2015, with promises such as building a wall on the border with Mexico to prevent the entry of undocumented immigrants. The idea has resonated strongly again in his campaign rallies this year, such as the one he held in the Bronx (New York), in the midst of an audience of predominantly immigrant origin and in which he gave free rein to his usual xenophobic and authoritarian rhetoric.

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