October 2023 Right-Wing Media Report

October Summary: 

During the October tracking period, there were 4,768 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets to an estimated audience of over 18,075,339,377 people (including new and repeat views) worth an estimated 495,293,445 in publicity. There were 68,892 mentions on Twitter to an audience of 850,815,091 people.

The majority of overall negative immigration mentions in October centered around the Israel/Palestine conflict, with right-wing lawmakers and media relentlessly weaponizing the conflict to spread Islamophobic and xenophobic narratives. Sites pushed the claim that “terrorist cells” are coming through the “wide open southern border” and demonized immigrants by framing them as dangerous and threatening to the U.S. in nearly every spike this month. Attention was also focused on the economy and workforce, with right-wing sites framing recently arrived immigrants as taking jobs and straining resources, especially in states like New York.

• The largest spike of October occurred on the 5th, with the majority of negative mentions relating to the Biden Administration’s decision to waive 26 federal laws in Texas to construct border wall. Sites in the right-wing ecosystem emphasized the supposed “migrant influx” happening, with the phrase “walls work” being quoted by GOP lawmakers and popular among social media posts. 
• The second largest spike occurred on the 10th, with sites claiming members of terrorist organizations are coming into the United States through the southern border. These baseless and inflammatory claims circulated widely, with Ted Cruz and Laura Ingraham galvanizing their follower’s anger and fear over the Israel/Palestine conflict by demonizing immigrants and refugees.
• The third largest spike happened on October 16th, with sites sharing statements from GOP lawmakers connecting immigrants to terrorism. Breitbart and other right-wing sites featured headlines such as “McCarthy: Because of Biden’s Open Border ‘We Don’t Know’ if There Are Terrorist Cells in America.” A Washington Examiner article highlighted Trump’s claims he would implement ideological screening of immigrants.

Smaller spikes occurred throughout the month as right-wing media continued to tie immigrants to terrorism and framed those recently arrived as taking jobs and straining resources:

• A spike occurred on the 23rd, with podcasts by Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino reaching an audience of nearly 35 million listeners each, with the hosts pushing anti-immigrant and fear-sparking language around recently arrived people being anti-semitic and connected to terrorism.
• Another spike occurred on the 27th, with sites circulating an interview where Ted Cruz described cartels as being “emboldened” by Biden’s border policies. A Washington Examiner article discussed migrants in NY and framed immigrants as a threat to the city.
• The final spike of October occurred on the 31st, with sites claiming migrants pose a threat to the U.S. and are taking white-collar jobs. This day also saw a popular Fox News article describe that with the CBP One app, “thousands of foreign nationals can be ferried in from anywhere in the world right into our country.”