Q4 2024 Snapshot: Immigration Narratives in Latino Spaces Online

Need to Know

Meta-Narratives: The weaponization of false and misleading immigration-related narratives to advance extremist political agendas in elections has become a deeply concerning trend in recent years. In the U.S. 2024 electoral context, far-right politicians and pundits, fueled by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, have taken to framing immigration as a fundamental threat to domestic U.S. interests. Disinformers have formed two clear false meta-narratives to push their agendas: that migrants are “ruining the fabric of U.S. society” and that “there is an ongoing immigration crisis that was purposefully structured to garner a win for the left.” These meta-narratives rarely change, and a good way to counter this is to understand and address how bad actors use a combination of false claims and recycled tactics to underpin these broader narratives and achieve their goals.
Fear-mongering and cherry-picking, are common tactics used in White, English-dominant spaces online, by bad actors seeking to portray immigrants as being detrimental to the well-being of native-born citizens either by falsely asserting that they are a root cause of crime and the decay of Western values, despite data showing the contrary, or by claiming migrants are sucking up resources from the broader population. These tactics and false claims aim to scare voters into believing migrants are somehow culturally incompatible with U.S. norms and culture, or to erase migrants’ contributions to society.
In Latino spaces online, the two previously outlined meta-narratives have also been weaponized more recently to pit U.S.-born or naturalized Latinos against migrants recently arriving in the United States. Migrants who came to the United States legally, including through TPS and other legal means, have also been targeted alongside undocumented immigrants in common disinformation narratives.

DDIA narrative analysis of immigration-related content circulating in English and Spanish on social media and messaging apps in the United States and in Latin America shows actors often employ a mix of false information, selectively curated news, and emotionally targeted visual content to shape conversations.

In this snapshot, we examine the nature, dissemination, and impact of these narratives, and provide resources to counteract these misleading claims.

The following narratives and claims related to immigration have been observed in 2024, based on a narrative analysis of Spanish-language and Latino-focused content from the past 12 months. We used NewsWhip and Palver to analyze narratives and claims from the following platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, and Telegram. These narratives continue to be recycled and are expected to resurface leading up to, during, and after the November 2024 election.

Meta-narrative 1: Immigrants are destroying the fabric of society.

False and Misleading Claims:

Migrants are to blame for America’s alleged decline.
Migrants are criminals or gang members and the source of increased crime and insecurity.

Meta-narrative 2: There is an ongoing immigration crisis in (pick country).

False and Misleading Claims:

The Biden-Harris administration is to blame for the “border crisis” and arguing that the administration’s immigration policies have caused the influx of undocumented immigrants.
Claiming President Biden, and now Kamala Harris, are intentionally bringing immigrants to the United States with the ulterior motive of securing their vote for the Democratic party.

Why Do These Narratives Matter?

In the U.S., false and misleading anti-immigration narratives heighten the potential for harassment and hateful targeting of Latino communities. Prominent figures, including Donald Trump and Elon Musk, have capitalized on anti-immigration tropes to evade scrutiny or skirt questions about unpopular policy proposals and stoke social divisions. Online anti-immigration narratives can lead to real-world consequences, influencing both policy and the rhetoric used by those in power.

For example, in September 2024, Spanish-language and Latino-focused hyper-partisan accounts, influencers, and media outlets amplified xenophobic, unfounded claims about Haitian migrants in the U.S. False and misleading allegations that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, OH, quickly gained traction across social media platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Influencers and accounts from outside the U.S., including those in Spain and Colombia, also shared these misleading claims. The narrative was further fueled by comments from U.S. Senator and Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, as well as statements from former President Donald Trump during the September 10, 2024 presidential debate on ABC. Despite Springfield town officials refuting the claims that the town is overwhelmed by migrant-led chaos, hyper-partisan content and statements from high-profile political figures persisted, leading to bomb threats at schools and government buildings and prompting Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to allocate additional law enforcement resources.

Election deniers also target immigration to propagate false claims of voter fraud. Latino partisan influencers, who often engage with the broader U.S. and global far-right, have spent much of 2024 amplifying allegations of a surge in migrant-led voter fraud in battleground states like Arizona and Texas. These claims often depict voter advocacy groups or left-wing campaigns as intentionally manipulating election outcomes by registering noncitizens.

Frequently, these claims are conflated with existing false and misleading narratives about U.S. elections, including the Big Lie from the 2020 presidential contest.

According to a DDIA poll conducted in March and April 2024, false or misleading claims and narratives about elections, whether they pertain to fraud or “stolen elections,” were among the most widely seen, with over 40% of Latinos reported being familiar with the following false claims: 'Trump won the 2020 election' and 'Democrats are failing to secure the U.S. southern border to allow undocumented immigrants to vote for them in U.S. elections.' DDIA conducted a follow-up poll in September 2024 and saw nearly identical results.

While 40% of our March/April poll sample who had seen the claim rejected the claim that 'Trump won the 2020 election,' 26% were uncertain, and 34% believed it. Additionally, only 26% of our sample who had seen the claim about Democrats and border security rejected the claim regarding Democrats and border security, while 34% were uncertain, and 41% believed it.

In September, 41% believed it, 32% rejected it, and the remainder (27%) were uncertain.

When directly asked about whether “non-citizens are regularly voting in national U.S. elections,” 27% of the 3,000 Latinos in our September sample agreed with this claim. While the non-citizens voting claim has been accepted by some Latinos, beliefs in these claims have not worsened over time.

The following are some other immigration statements we tested in our September poll:

Anti-immigrant tropes have also begun to be co-opted to push legislation that harm Latino communities. In July 2024, the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives passed an election-conspiracy laden bill calling for restrictions on voting by tightening ‘proof of citizenship’ requirements for voter registration. False and misleading claims of election fraud by noncitizens are now the basis for challenges to elections and voting procedures across various states, illustrating the harmful real-world impact of false and misleading immigration narratives, such as curtailing ballot access for eligible voters and exposing communities to extremist backlash. It’s also important to highlight that, under existing law, only citizens can legally vote. Noncitizen voting is illegal in federal and state elections across the country.

The spread of these false, misleading and malign narratives can significantly affect society, influencing individual perceptions, altering public opinion on immigration, and eroding trust among different socio-political groups. Narrative analysis research indicates that in the United States these narratives primarily circulate among or target White Americans, distorting the portrayal of Latino immigrants. However, these claims and narratives are increasingly being amplified by hyper-partisan Latino-focused accounts.

Where and How Are These Narratives Spreading?

Across fringe and mainstream social media platforms, anti-immigration conversations are driven by politicians, hyper-partisan figures, and partisan media who leverage the tools and algorithms of these platforms to reach a broad audience. Often, these information subverters use anti-immigration tropes to lead voter suppression efforts and interfere with elections. Partisan figures may also amplify immigration distortions for personal, political, or monetary gain, especially as platform content monetization rules evolve.

It’s common for anti-immigration narratives to be found on platforms associated with few guardrails, where extreme viewpoints can fester, such as Telegram or Rumble. Nonetheless, this content also remains prevalent on mainstream platforms like X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

For instance, Meta has implemented safeguards around election-related content ahead of U.S. 2024 elections. Despite this, English and Spanish-language content suggesting noncitizens and unauthorized migrants are participating in U.S. elections can be found, including in posts shared by popular and individual accounts alike. Similarly, on Instagram, bilingual hyper-partisan accounts target Latinos with U.S. election misinformation, particularly focusing on depicting immigration as a tool weaponized by left-wing figures to obstruct U.S. election procedures. These posts, often based on conspiracy theories or out-of-context claims, receive little to no fact-checking from platforms and their partners. This language contributes to the ongoing heated debate in the U.S. regarding immigration and election integrity.

Social media posts falsely claiming that the U.S. government intentionally implemented an “open border” policy allowing unrestricted migration have persisted. Right-wing politicians and partisan influencers, both in Latin America and within the U.S., continue to leverage these tropes to further political goals and distort accurate immigration-related information. In their anti-immigrant rhetoric, bad actors frame immigration as a driving cause of increases in crime across U.S. cities, despite official law enforcement figures showing violent crimes have gone down in recent years. These accounts often allege that dangerous, unvetted criminals and terrorists are entering the U.S. via the southern border. Anti-immigration accounts capitalize on high-profile instances of criminal or violent acts involving alleged unauthorized migrants to amplify their rhetoric on social media platforms, especially surrounding events like the murders of Georgia college student Laken Riley and the Houston-area minor Jocelyn Nungaray. Our narrative analysis has found that the crime narrative spreads more widely when bad actors connect it to a cherry-picked real-life news story. For example, in August and September 2024, Spanish-language and Latino social media accounts, including mainstream Spanish-language media outlets, joined right-wing influencers and citizen journalists in fueling misleading claims about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Aurora.

Demonstrably false anti-immigration claims have transitioned from the online fringe to the mainstream. Figures like presidential candidate Donald Trump have embraced wide-ranging anti-immigrant platforms, including calls for mass deportations and ending birthright citizenship. The heightened political tensions surrounding immigration, fueled by swarms of online disinformation, have the power to subvert Latino public opinion and put vulnerable communities at risk of hate and harassment.

How to Be Ready for November 2024 (Guidance & Resources)

During critical democratic processes like voting, those spreading anti-immigration narratives may seek to undermine civic cohesion by scapegoating migrants, making it difficult for communities to unite and collaborate. Questioning the sources of information, challenging unsubstantiated claims, and seeking out diverse perspectives contributes to a more informed, balanced, and constructive discourse on key issues such as immigration. In the current political landscape, understanding the intricacies of the immigration debate requires rigorous scrutiny of information.

In 2024 and the near future, immigration will remain a trending narrative across fringe and mainstream social media platforms, with high-reaching accounts seizing on false and misleading framing on the issue to drive their messaging. In spaces where information can be rapidly disseminated and amplified, particularly through social media, it is crucial for consumers of information to exercise discernment.

De-Escalate Immigration Falsehoods with Humanizing Messages:

Anti-immigrant tropes that seize on long-standing prejudices and amplify falsehoods about immigrant communities can heighten social divisions and stoke violence. To tone down the temperature, trusted messengers can draw attention towards real-life stories about the positive impacts of immigrants in our communities. Research from nonpartisan civil society groups like the Wilson Center has shown that above all, immigrants, including refugees and asylees, are net positives to U.S. economic well-being. By and large, immigrants contribute to their communities by kick-starting small businesses, creating jobs, paying state, local, and federal taxes, and embracing patriotism.

Pivot to good messaging using the truth sandwich approach. An example:

(Make a Fact-based Affirmation) - We care about election integrity and want our voting systems to be safe and secure. Studies show that electoral fraud is nearly non-existent and there is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting.
(Call Out the Disinformation or Tactics Being Used to Manipulate) - Instead of focusing on the real challenges that affect all working families, some politicians spread lies about immigrants to undermine our election and attack the American democratic process. This is a politically-motivated attack that fuels election deniers.
(Reiterate the Facts) - It is already against the law for non-citizens to vote in federal or state elections, and millions of dollars and massive investigations of billions of votes have not found any evidence of non-citizen voting influencing elections.

Amplify the work of Spanish-language fact-checkers:

Fact-checkers work in real time to flag and debunk the use of false content, edited videos and imagery, and out-of-context information related to immigration, especially around breaking-news events. While fact-checking is not a silver bullet solution to disinformation, fact-checks have been proven to move people from uncertainty to believing false content is false. Fact-checkers based in the U.S. and the region who frequently cover immigration issues include:

Rely on the experts -

Many organizations are working to understand, address and shape immigration policy and solutions in the United States and Latin America. Consulting and sharing their analysis and guidance can help amplify fact-based, contextualized information in spaces where we consume information. Some organizations include: