On MSNBC, Chris Hayes debunks right-wing media's “migrant crime surge” myth
Hayes: “This manufactured crisis is at the heart of Donald Trump's monstrous vision for a second term”
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From the February 29, 2024, edition of MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes
CHRIS HAYES (HOST): If you have tuned into right-wing media at all over the past few months, you might have noticed that after spending years beating the drum on inflation, Fox News does not really want to talk about the economy anymore. They sure as heck do not want to talk about abortion. So what is their new pet issue heading to the general election? So-called "migrant crime." That's it. Honestly, you cannot overstate the deluge of coverage. At any given moment all day, Fox is either reporting on crime, finishing a segment on crime, or about to run a segment on migrant crime.
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The drum beat of propaganda has been moving not just Republicans, but public opinion overall, in a really bad direction. A recent Pew poll found that a clear majority of Americans believe a large increase in the migrant population leads to an increase in crime. The problem is, it's not true. It is simply not true. It is a right wing invention. According to preliminary data from last year published by The New York Times, quote, "the country is likely to see one of the largest, if not the largest, yearly decline in homicides." That's right. We're going to set a record in 2023 for a drop in homicides. So, to recap, homicides saw a near record single year spike under Donald Trump, and it now appears the largest single year decline in homicides ever in American history happened under Joe Biden. And I will further speculate that if 2023 saw the biggest one year increase, increase in the homicide rate in recorded American history, everyone would know about it.
But what's more, according to new analysis from NBC News, quote, "expert analysis and available data for major city police departments show that, despite several horrifying high-profile incidents, there is no evidence of a migrant driven crime wave in the United States." In fact, in many of the cites like New York that have taken in a huge amount of migrants, and there really have been a lot, crime has gone down quite considerably. There you have it. It's not just, of course, the data that matters, because this manufactured crisis is at the heart of Donald Trump's monstrous vision for a second term.
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It's predicated on lies, but they're effective lies.