This grift was exploited for years by Republicans — until Trump came along

Donald Trump and his allies are using the long-employed tactic of demonizing a targeted population to turn public opinion against them. In carrying out ICE deportation raids on undocumented immigrants, they are using dehumanizing rhetoric to portray their targets as undesirables whose deportation cleanses the country.

Trump began by smearing undocumented immigrants as “murderers and rapists,” inspiring fear among Americans and creating a fictitious bogeyman. Nearly two centuries ago, Southerners used similar rhetoric, characterizing Black men as biologically inferior brutes, a nightmarish threat to every white woman.

Rather than using neutral terms such as “undocumented” or “unauthorized” in referring to immigrants, Republican politicians and conservative commentators use the dehumanizing pejorative “illegal alien” or just ”alien.” Trump has called them “animals” and “invaders” who are “poisoning the blood of our country.” The vile intent is to inspire fear, create negative public opinion, and justify mass deportations.

Along similar lines, during World War II, racial epithets were used to instill fear and hatred of Japanese-Americans and justify their incarceration in relocation camps. Hitler and the Nazis referred to Jews as “vermin,” “rats” “parasites,” and untermenschen(sub-human) to foster hatred among Germans as a prelude to unspeakable atrocities.

Hitler also attempted to erase from German minds the contributions of Jews to culture, science, business, law, and medicine. Similarly, Trump and his allies are trying to erase from American minds the contributions undocumented immigrants have made.

There are approximately 14 million undocumented immigrants in the US; 94 percent of undocumented immigrant households have at least one working adult, compared to only 73 percent of U.S.-born households; over half of undocumented immigrants have lived and worked in the US for a decade or more.

If there were a supply of Americans willing to labor in the fields, work in slaughterhouses and on poultry farms, clean America’s 1.8 million hotel rooms, and buss tables and clean kitchens in America’s half-million restaurants, employers would hire them. Undocumented immigrants have provided the essential low-wage workforce which major industries depend on.

In 2023, undocumented immigrants paid $89.8 billion in taxes and contributed $299 billion to the economy as consumers. The amount spent on undocumented immigrants for medical, educational, and police services is significantly less than their contribution.

That undocumented immigrants come to the US for the free services is a favored falsehood of the right. Mexican immigrants have been coming to the US since the 1940s to escape poverty and find work. When there is a significant drop in job opportunities in the US, such as in the recession of 2008 or during the COVID-19 pandemic, undocumented immigration drops. When job opportunities rise, immigration rises too.

American employers have not only welcomed undocumented immigrants, they have recruited them. For decades, farmers have used farm labor contractors to recruit workers from other countries, predominantly Mexico. American employers have been complicit in keeping the border crossings of undocumented immigrants flowing.

It is unlawful for any US employer to recruit or hire undocumented immigrants, yet thousands have done it with relative impunity for decades. While undocumented immigrants are being deported in record numbers, employers suffer no consequences aside from a growing shortage of workers.

Many of these employers are Republicans, including the vast majority of farmers who have been among Trump’s most faithful supporters. For years, Trump has employed undocumented immigrants. The man who calls undocumented immigrants “murderers and rapists” has gladly employed them unlawfully for his personal gain.

The Trump administration’s claim that deportation of undocumented immigrants focuses on those with criminal records is a lie. Less than 10 percent of deported undocumented immigrants have criminal records beyond traffic tickets and non-violent misdemeanors. If undocumented, Trump would be among the criminal deportees based on his record as a convicted felon and a convicted sexual abuser.

Over 90 percent of undocumented deportees have no criminal record, and the vast majority have been employed in the US, abiding by the law and filling the employment needs of American businesses.

Deportations are tearing apart families, separating mothers and fathers from their American-born children. The children have the option of leaving with their parents, remaining in the US under guardianship, or being put in foster care. Not surprisingly, many end up leaving with their parents, torn from their country of birth, facing poverty in a foreign country.

Rather than being dehumanized and deported by the heartless, hypocritical Trump administration, undocumented immigrants should be recognized by all Americans for their decades-long contributions to the country. They boost the US economy, provide essential workers for major US industries, enrich the culture, exemplify strong family values, and have helped put food on the tables of the American people for over half a century.

For Americans who condemn undocumented immigrants for the “crime” of entering the US illegally, they must equally condemn the thousands of employers who hire them and a government that has turned a blind eye for over 70 years.

All undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the US for years, abided by the law, and paid their taxes have earned a pathway to citizenship, a belief shared by Republican president Ronald Reagan. As a nation, we owe them no less. Today, however, they must live in the shadows, under constant threat.

The way undocumented immigrants are being treated by the Trump administration is a disgrace, bringing shame that history will record. Men and women who for decades have provided their labor to help enrich the country and make a better life for themselves don’t deserve to be vilified and thrown out.

As Hitler rounded up the Jews, most Germans remained silent. As the US government forced Japanese-Americans into camps, most Americans remained silent. As Trump-instructed ICE agents round up undocumented immigrants for deportation, will we remain silent too?

If unjust treatment of a people by a government is met with silence, that treatment will grow and flourish. As John Stuart Mill said in 1867, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.” Time and again, history has proven him right.

• Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor