Republican National Convention Highlights GOP’s Harsh Stance On Immigration

NBC News: Republican Convention Highlighted “Grim Scenarios And Stories Aimed At Pulling The Heartstrings” Against Immigration. The opening night of the Republican National Convention focused on the theme “Make America Safe again” and featured “a salvo of grim scenarios and stories aimed at pulling the heartstrings of hardline [nominee Donald] Trump supporters against immigration and of muddling the lines between terrorism, gangs, crime, and Syrian refugees with immigration to the U.S.,” according to NBC News. From the July 19 report:

The opening night of the Republican National Convention delivered a salvo of grim scenarios and stories aimed at pulling the heartstrings of hardline Trump supporters against immigration and of muddling the lines between terrorism, gangs, crime, and Syrian refugees with immigration to the U.S.

The day's theme of “Make America Safe again” reaffirmed the immigration issue as a central focus of Donald Trump's campaign.

A parent whose child was a victim of a crime committed by someone illegally in the country said we have an administration that cares more about “illegal aliens” than Americans.

Jamail Shaw Sr. told those assembled in the convention how his son was shot in 2008 by a gang member from Mexico who was not legally in the country. There were shouts from the audience of “Build the Wall.”

“The wall, build the wall,” Shaw responded. “Only Trump mentions Americans killed by illegals. Trump will put America first. Not crooked Hillary.”

Those lines and other similar speeches brought raucous and rowdy cheers from the crowd at the convention. [NBC News, 7/19/16]

Media Slam The Convention’s Anti-Latino Sentiment

NY Times’ Héctor Tobar: Republican National Convention “Deepened The Insult” Against Latinos. New York Times contributing opinion writer Héctor Tobar called out Trump for “the nativist anger” his campaign “unleashed” against Latinos. Tobar added that the Republican National Convention included “an hour of testimony about the innocent blood spilled by ‘illegal aliens,’” which “only deepened the insult.” From a July 20 New York Times piece:

The nomination of Mr. Trump by the Republican Party will endure in the memory of Latinos in this country for generations to come. Our future historians will write about the Trump campaign and the nativist anger it unleashed with the same sense of hurt that African-Americans feel when they look back on the cruelties of Jim Crow, and that Asian-Americans experience as they contemplate the injustice of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The Republican convention that began Monday in Cleveland with an hour of testimony about the innocent blood spilled by “illegal aliens” only deepened the insult. [The New York Times, 7/20/16]

MSNBC’s Joy Reid: Convention Featured “A Lot Of Talk About Murder And Death, And Tying It All Back To Immigrants.” MSNBC host Joy Reid called out many of the speeches at the Republican National Convention, including one made by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for having the “subtext” that “brown people are dangerous,” by including “a lot of talk about murder and death and tying it all back to immigrants.” Reid explained that the convention was “sort of hostile -- if you’re a person of color, this was a weird place to be.” From the July 19 edition of MSNBC’s Place for Politics:

JOY REID: I think it’s not also to be missed, too, that Melania Trump’s speech was the first of the night that didn’t have the subtext that Avik Roy put out on his social media, which was that brown people are dangerous, which was the kind of subtext of the rest of the night. There was a lot of really angry rhetoric, a lot of talk about murder and death, and tying it all back to immigrants, tying it all back to illegal migration. And there was a really hard-edged theme. I mean, Rudy Giuliani screamed his entire speech. We had the audience made to cheer the police officers in the Freddie Gray case. There were these surreal moments that felt very base-oriented, but also not expansionist, not open, not inclusive, and sort of hostile -- if you're a person of color, this was a weird place to be. [MSNBC, The Place for Politics, 7/19/16]

CNN’s Maria Cardona: The First Night Of The Convention “Scared The Hell Out Of You” “If You’re An Immigrant, If You’re Latino.” CNN political commentator Maria Cardona explained that “If you’re an immigrant, or if you’re Latino,” or “if you’re anybody that looked different from the majority of the people” at the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani’s speech and others during the first night “scared the hell out of you.” From the July 19 edition of CNN’s Early Start:

MARIA CARDONA: If you’re an immigrant, if you’re Latino, if you’re an African-American, if you’re a Muslim, if you’re anybody that looked different from the majority of the people in that arena, that speech scared the hell out of you. And that, I think, is one of the problems that last night's theme had. Because it’s so ironic that they talked about that it is a divided America, but to Josh's point, Trump and his speakers did absolutely nothing to give the country confidence that he was the person that would bring people together. Because in order to bring people together in terms of what’s going on, you have to acknowledge the racial bias that happens, the discrimination that happens, and find a way to bring people together and solve it and actually describe proposals on what you would do about it. [CNN, Early Start, 7/19/16]

Univision’s Maria Elena Salinas: The Convention’s Focus On “Security At The Border” Was “Anti-Immigrant.” Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas wrote in an Instagram post in Spanish that the focus on “security at the border” was the “anti-immigrant part of the convention.” [Instagram, 7/18/16]

Vox: Republican Convention Highlighted “Anxiety About Particular Kinds Of Immigrants.” Vox’s Dara Lind slammed the Republican convention for hyping “the fear that unauthorized immigrants would victimize -- even kill -- Americans.” Lind explained that speeches from “the relatives of people who were killed by unauthorized immigrants” underlined people’s fears and anxiety “about immigrant crime.” From the July 19 Vox article:

Before Donald Trump’s movement was about anything else, it was about this: the fear that unauthorized immigrants would victimize — even kill — Americans.

That’s how he first went from a joke celebrity candidate to a man who could fill stadiums for campaign rallies. It’s how he won the Republican nomination. And it’s how he opened his Republican National Convention.

[...]

Americans as a whole are, if anything, even less anxious about immigrant crime than about immigrants' effect on the economy. But when crime is tied to the anxiety about particular kinds of immigrants, and anxiety about losing the American way of life — what political scientists Marisa Abrajano and Zoltan L. Hajnal call the immigrant “threat narrative” — it becomes much more powerful.

When Donald Trump trots out the relatives of people who were killed by unauthorized immigrants, he’s underlining that association. “I had my son’s life stolen from me by a man who was three times a legal limit drunk, was high on meth, and drove for over 25 miles the wrong way. And he had no business being in this country,” [Mary Ann] Mendoza said Monday night.

[...]

Trump has recently taken to calling himself the “law and order” candidate — deliberately using a phrase Richard Nixon used in 1968, when he too tapped into white Americans’ fears of cultural instability through racially coded language. By claiming the “law and order” mantle, though, Trump was just making the subtext text. The ability to tap into white Americans’ cultural anxieties about nonwhites destroying America is something he’s been doing, to great success, all along. [Vox, 7/19/16]

La Opinión: Convention Used “Twisted Logic” In Speeches “When Immigration Was Mixed With Terrorism.” La Opinión’s editorial board dounounced Republicans for the first night of the convention, “when immigration was mixed with terrorism,” writing that the conflation is based on “twisted logic.” From the July 19 editorial:

During the Republican National Convention, the rebellion against nominating Donald Trump as presidential candidate was the time to express dissatisfaction over the worst nomination that this party has made in recent memory.

The conservatives who rose up have reasons for it. Hispanic Republicans should have more than enough reasons, but they were noticeably absent.

Republican officials and activists, who throughout the GOP primaries made it clear that they were upset and angry at Trump’s campaign because of its hatred and resentment toward immigrants, should have been outraged when immigration was mixed with terrorism, as happened during the convention’s first day.

After mentioning a relative killed by a terrorist, mentioning another relative killed by an undocumented immigrant is a twisted logic. And these Republicans could have expressed their displeasure inside or outside the convention, but didn’t. [La Opinión, 7/19/16]