April 2023 Right-Wing Media Report

April Summary

During the April 1st-30th tracking period, there were 3,695 negative immigration mentions across right-wing media outlets to an estimated audience of over 8,622,884,258 people worth an estimated $247,516,068 million dollars in publicity. There were 66,844 mentions on Twitter to an audience of 1,066,293,642 million people.

The majority of overall immigration mentions as usual revolved around a Republican concerted effort to drive a narrative of the border crisis and using their white nationalist talking points that migrants constitute an invasion of the United States. Nikki Haley’s visit to the border was a driver in anti-immigrant messaging and there seemed to be an orchestrated effort by GOP Senators to feign fake outrage at conditions of migrant children who are exploited in the United States. Mayorkas was a target again of attacks by both media outlets and GOP lawmakers. There was also a spike during Biden’s presidential campaign announcement, with attacks trying to drive the narrative that the Biden administration supports open borders and that there is a crisis at the southern border. There were some mentions of Fentanyl as well.

• The first spike was on April 3rd, due to Nikki Haley’s visit to the Southern Border, where she took the opportunity to continue hammering the narrative of a crisis at the border. Haley proposed a mandatory E-Verify program for employers, firing 87,000 IRS agents to hire “at least” 25,000 Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and defunding sanctuary cities
• Next spike was April 12th. A story from the Daily Caller detailed an increasing surge of illicit drugs coming across the northern border, and cited U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics and two agents who spoke with the Daily Caller. There was also a story on Breitbart citing police reports on “migrant smugglers” who are “wreaking havoc on Texas County highways near the border.”
• Next spike was April 18th. An article from the Daily Caller detailed comments from Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee on unaccompanied minors at the southern border being used for sex trafficking and child labor. The comments come after a report from the New York Times warning that migrant children were at risk of being exploited. There was another article on Newsmax citing Sen. Ron Johnson, saying that Secretary Mayorkas’s smugness was “infuriating” and highlighting the number of migrant children put to work in the United States after crossing the southern border; Johnson said Mayorkas “completely ignores that.”
• Next spike was April 19th, Tennessee Rep. Mark Green was on Fox News where he discussed Mayorkas’ handling of the “border crisis” as officials prepare for the end of Title 42. The Daily Caller ran a story citing family members of deceased people from a recent car crash caused by a smuggler of migrants. They criticized Mayorkas for not securing the southern border. Another Daily Caller article cited Mayorkas’ comments stating that he “respectfully” disagrees with Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz’s testimony about the U.S. Mexico border security situation. Mayorkas said the border is secured. 
• Final spike was April 25th, which was the day of Biden’s presidential campaign announcement. There was a surprisingly low amount of stories mentioning immigration on the day of Joe Biden’s campaign launch. The majority of overall immigration mentions as usual revolved around a concerted effort to drive the narrative that the Biden administration supports open borders and that there is a crisis at the southern border. There were some mentions of Fentanyl as well.