Six Myths Behind the Fallacy of a “Border Crisis”

This is an edited article by Gloria Rebecca Gomez of the Arizona Mirror.

Yes, the country needs comprehensive immigration reform. But the persistent Republican disinformation that there is a “border crisis” has no basis in reality.

Instead, there has been a sharp decline in migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border in 2024. The truth is that Mexican authorities have stepped up enforcement to prevent migrants from reaching the US border. President Biden issued an executive order in June that made it much more difficult for migrants who entered the US without legal permission to seek asylum and remain in the country.

So why does the false idea of a “border crisis” persist as a talking point by Republican candidates? The reason is that six myths about immigration support the propaganda about the border.

  1. MYTH: Immigrants increase crime rates.
  2. MYTH: There’s an invasion at the US-Mexico border.
  3. MYTH: Fentanyl is smuggled into the country by migrants
  4. MYTH: Immigrants take advantage of public benefits
  5. MYTH: It’s easy to gain US citizenship
  6. MYTH: Immigrants don’t pay taxes

A fictitious migrant crime wave

Trump falsely claims immigrants are attacking “villages and cities” in America. He foamed at the mouth that “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.” JD Vance says the US military must invade Mexico, claiming, “We know that when you have these massive ethnic enclaves forming in our country, it can sometimes lead to higher crime rates.”

In reality, the opposite is true. Immigrants are far less likely than US-born citizens to commit crimesnumerous studies show. One study of incarceration rates going back over 150 years — between 1870 and 2020 — found that US-born citizens were consistently more likely to end up in prison than immigrants. The gap between the two groups has only increased in recent years, with immigrants 60% less likely to be incarcerated than US-born citizens today, according to the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research.

Assertions that immigrants have caused spikes in crime in the areas where they settle have also been proven false. Overall, incidents of crime, including violent crime, have fallen in cities across the country since peaking during the pandemic, FBI data shows. And while politicians have claimed that border cities have been overwhelmed by lawlessness and chaos, the data shows that crime rates, including for homicide, are far lower than the national average.

“Politicians talk about the migrant community like they’re criminals, like they are really awful people,” said Irayda Flores, a businesswoman in Phoenix said.

Republicans rejected a conservative, bipartisan border bill twice in May 2024

“You can’t generalize or treat an entire immigrant group as criminals because there are people who’ve lived in the country for decades, and they bring benefits to the table,” Flores said. “They benefit the economy, they benefit their communities, and they deserve to be treated with respect.”

MYTH: There’s an invasion at the US-Mexico border

While the campaign season has prompted politicians to stir up voters about an “invasion” at the country’s southern border, the situation is more complex. In late 2023, the number of migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border hit record highs. A year ago, encounters between border officials and migrants peaked at 249,000.

Experts believe the surge was partly the result of a global spike in migration patterns caused by economic strains during the pandemic.

In August 2024, the number plummeted to about 58,000 encounters — a three-year low not seen since before the pandemic.

MYTH: Fentanyl is smuggled into the country by migrants

The US-Mexico border stretches nearly 2,000 miles and includes 26 land ports of entry. US Customs and Border Protection agents monitor both ports and the spaces in between. The vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled into the US via legal routes by citizens, the US Department of Homeland Security reports. 

More than 90% of interdicted fentanyl is confiscated by border officials at land ports of entry, according to DHS, and cartels mainly seek to move the drug across the border with the help of US citizens. In fiscal year 2023, the latest year for which there is data, 86.4% of fentanyl trafficking convictions were citizens.

MYTH: Immigrants take advantage of public benefits 

In most cases, immigrants who aren’t citizens of the United States are ineligible for public benefits. Federal programs like Section 8 housing aid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are all strictly reserved for US citizens.

Immigrants who aren’t citizens also can’t get subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and they can’t apply for federal health insurance coverage through the marketplace.

However, people with legal permanent residency status may be able to access some public benefits after reaching the five-year residency mark.

Emergency Medicaid helps migrants without legal status receive urgent medical treatment, and some benefits are available to migrant women under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Eligibility for state public benefits programs varies across the country, ranging from access to driver’s licenses to in-state tuition rates and scholarships.

MYTH: It’s easy to gain US citizenship 

Gaining citizenship is a costly, multistep and complicated process. And backlogged naturalization and asylum systems mean long wait times for hopeful migrants.

Those seeking to achieve legal status through marriage must pass several hurdles to verify that the marriage is genuine, including periodic interviews with immigration officials. Couples often spend hundreds or thousands of dollars and years in the application process.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protects people without legal status who were brought to the country as minors from deportation and a temporary work permit. Still, recipients must meet strict criteria to qualify. That includes living in the US since 2007, having arrived in the country before turning 16, having no significant criminal convictions and either current enrollment in a high school, a diploma or a GED.

DACA recipients accepted into the program must reapply for a renewal every two years. And while recipients can apply for legal residency status if they are eligible through their family or employment-based immigration, the DACA program is currently frozen. Though applications are still being accepted, they aren’t being processed while the program is under ongoing litigation that threatens to end it altogether.

Asylum seekers must undergo screenings with immigration officials to determine if their concerns about persecution or threats to their lives warrant being granted protection in the US. New guidance issued by the Biden administration barring the consideration of asylum claims when high numbers of migrant encounters occur has made it more difficult for people to request asylum.

Those hoping for a resolution in their asylum or refugee cases might wait years. In 2019, the immigration backlog ballooned to more than 1 million cases, a number that doubled in the following years. As of September, the number of pending immigration cases exceeded 3 million. The average time it takes to close a case is four years, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which compiles and analyzes federal immigration data.

MYTH: Immigrants don’t pay taxes

Roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, and all of them pay some form of taxes. An analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey, an annual demographics survey conducted by the US Census Bureau, estimated that immigrants contributed $383 billion in federal taxes and $196 billion in state and local taxes. And while people without legal status can’t benefit from Social Security, the administration receives about $13 billion from the paychecks of workers without citizenship status every year.

Saúl Rascón moved to the US with his family when he was 5-years-old. He became a DACA recipient in high school and has been employed ever since.

The spread of disinformation about immigrants is harmful, he said, not just because it fosters anti-immigrant sentiment but also because it makes it more difficult to find common ground when it comes to changing the country’s immigration system.

While Republican politicians have focused on riling up their base against immigrants, Democrats have shifted to the right on the issue, increasingly spotlighting enforcement policy to capture as many votes as possible.

“We’re no longer focusing our energy on our Dreamers and DACA, on undocumented people who’ve been here, and contributing taxes,” Rascón said. “We’ve seen a shift towards border security, which isn’t unproductive, but it’s not the best use of our time and resources.”


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