How the Media used Trump to insult Mexicans

MEDIA MEME:  In his first campaign speech, Trump said that all Mexicans are rapists.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:  Trump said no such thing. But many reporters, news commentators, and political pundits said it frequently.

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An expanded, revised version of this article is now available in the new book: The Media Versus the Apprentice: The Devil Mr. Trump.

In the Fall of 2015, I taught a new course at the University of Texas at Austin. The title was Discovery History. I wanted to help students investigate topics of their choosing, in order to make their own discoveries about what really happened. I also chose a couple of puzzles to investigate for myself. One of them was “illegal immigration.”

I wanted to know: What’s the problem? How big is it?

I was curious about what were the actual numbers of people who entered into the US illegally in a given year. I also wanted to know how many of them had been convicted of committing crimes.

But these numbers didn’t seem to be available anywhere. So instead, I looked for related numbers: How many people are detained trying to enter the US? How many are sent back to their country of origin? And, how many of them had been previously convicted of committing crimes, whether it be in the US or elsewhere?

While working on this, I kept hearing or reading news stories that claimed to quote Donald Trump’s first speech when he announced his candidacy for US President. Most commentators ridiculed or denounced what Trump had said.

So I went back to the speech, which I had heard originally in the summer, and laughed about, to hear it again. Surprisingly, what Trump said was very different from what most writers now said he said. And to me, the difference was huge.

But I soon discovered that when I tried to talk about this with friends, some of them strongly disagreed and insisted that Trump had said something else. When I played or read it out to them, word by word, they then said that Trump still meant what they thought he meant.

The issue is: How can we convince one another of a what a sentence means? Should we discard whatever the speaker intended to mean, in favor of whatever it means to us? But before we consider what each party said, I’ve got an idea. If you’ll please bear with me, I want to distinguish sharply between some different sentences, to show that we can agree about some things.

The following five statements do not all say the same thing.

I ask you to please pinpoint the differences between these five statements. One of them is true. Another one might be true. The other three are false and horrifyingly offensive. Which is which? Also, I beg you not to keep reading at all until you’re fully convinced that these five statements each say something different. None of these statement are quotations of Trump or of anyone in particular.

1. Very few Mexicans are criminals or rapists.

2. All Mexicans are rapists.

3. Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists.

4. Mexican unauthorized immigrants are rapists.

5. Mexico is pushing some of its people into the US; not its best people, but people with lots of problems. Presumably some of them are good people, but others bring drugs, crime, or have been convicted of committing acts of sexual aggression, at least according to some US border guards.

If you read all five of these statements and sensed that they all say the same thing, then I beg you to please read then again. I ask that you don’t bother to read anything else here unless you do agree with me that each of these statements makes different claims, and that most of them are not true.

During his infamous speech, Donald Trump said some words about Mexico. The question is what did he say? And what did he mean?

Many people say that Trump said that “Mexicans are rapists.” Other people say that Trump said “Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists.” But as we said, these are very different claims. Both are false, yet they’re saying different things.

If Trump said either of these things, then one can see why many people would feel offended and upset. And in 2015 there were many, many people annoyed at Trump: most Democrats, millions of Republicans, most political pundits, many college students, etc.

So in another one of my courses, I asked my students: “What has Donald Trump said that you found most offensive?” One student raised her hand high: “He said that all Mexicans are rapists.” I asked a coworker the same question. He replied: “He said that all Mexican immigrants are rapists.”

Those were basically options 2 and 3 above. Note, however, that they don’t mean the same thing. So who’s right? The student or my coworker?

Really, who was right?

The same thing happened in newspapers and hundreds of articles online. Some said that Trump said all Mexicans are rapists. Others said that Trump said that Mexican immigrants are rapists. Who was right?

To figure it out, we might well read or hear Trump’s words again, and then check with the list of options above, to see which option most closely resembles what he said.

This is what Trump said:

“When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. […] When Mexico sends its people they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you; they’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting.”

Most people writing online, as well as critics in general, seriously thought that Trump’s words meant options 2 or 3 above.

I disagreed. I think his words meant option 5. But I’m not good at persuasion, so I don’t think I have the skills to try to convince someone that he meant option 5. I’ve sometimes tried and failed. So let’s disregard my opinion for a moment.

The important point is to discuss the disagreement itself. Why did so many people disagree? If we can bear to consider different interpretations, we might get closer to understanding why people disagreed so strongly with one another during the US Presidential elections of 2016.

If you look at Trump’s words again, we can make a puzzle, like a multiple-choice question for an exam. Namely: When Trump said, “They’re rapists,” who was he talking about?

(a) all Mexicans

(b) Mexican immigrants in the US

(c) Mexicans who enter the US illegally

(d) certain people who Mexico sends to the US

(e) all Mexicans, all Hispanics and Latinos

What would you choose as the correct answer? I guarantee that if you give this same question to some friends, some of them will disagree with you about the answer, just as news commentators attributed various claims to Trump.

But I do want to point out a few interesting points about Trump’s actual words. Note first that Trump did not say “all Mexicans.”

He did not say: “every single one of them” either. He did not say: “All Mexicans, living both in Mexico and abroad.” So apparently he was not talking about all Mexicans, but about a subgroup, an unspecified number of people who the country of Mexico allegedly “sends” to the US, and who are not “the best” people of Mexico.

Note also that he emphasized this notion that Mexico “sends” people. It wasn’t just an incidental word. Five times he used the word “sends” or “sending.”

Also, it’s interesting that Trump did not use any of these expressions at all: “legal immigrants,” “illegal immigrants,” “undocumented immigrants,” or “unauthorized immigrants.”

Since he did not, then some people concluded that he was not talking about legal immigrants or about unauthorized immigrants but about Mexicans in general. This interpretation was useful, because it enabled such people to be outraged and repulsed by the grotesquely false claim that all Mexicans are rapists. It provided them an easy opportunity to speak out to fairly defend the countless many good people of Mexico. Rather than address whatever Trump himself said he meant, they could instead build a scarecrow of Trump, a straw man, a piñata, to attack, ridicule, condemn, hate, and smash.

However, this interpretation was implausible and incendiary, because not only did Trump not say that “all Mexicans are rapists,” he also specifically spoke about the “best” people in Mexico, and about some other Mexicans who are “good” people. Neither of those could possibly be rapists. So grammatically it seems utterly bizarre to me that not just normal people but professional news commentators were able to so easily mention, repeatedly, that Trump said all Mexicans are rapists. It was as if his comment about “They’re rapists” were not sandwiched  between two positive statements about other Mexicans: some who are “their best” and others who are “good people.”

Next, Trump did not say “unauthorized immigrants.”

So some people felt entitled to infer something really bad: that he must have been talking about all Mexican immigrants. However, his words about border guards might be construed to mean that maybe he was talking about illegal immigration.

More importantly, Trump did not even say the word “immigrants” at all!

Therefore some people inferred that he must have been talking about all Mexicans. Again, only his words about “border guards” and “Mexico at the border” might suggest that he was talking about people who crossed the border people who succeed at “beating” the US in dodging border patrol guards, barriers, immigration restrictions, etc.

Basically, these points mean that Trump’s words were ambiguous.

Promptly, Trump insisted that he was just talking about “illegal immigration.” But skeptics disagreed. They were unwilling to let the speaker determine what he means. Instead, they preferred to insist on the worst interpretations. Some said he was speaking about Mexican immigrants. Others said he was speaking about all Mexicans.

Yet nearly nobody said this: his words were ambiguous. Instead, critics decided to take the worst possible meaning as if that’s what Trump said and meant.

You might well dislike Trump’s words. I did. But let’s not make it worse. He did not say that all Mexicans are rapists. Yet that’s what many commentators did. For example, Politico misquoted Trump by omitting his phrase about “good people.” They said he was “demonizing Mexicans as rapists.” They argued that Mexicans do not really commit more rapes in the U.S. than whites. But that’s not what Trump claimed.

Similarly, other news sources misrepresented his words in offensive ways:

The New York Times: “Trump’s claim that illegal Mexican immigrants are ‘rapists.”

Associated Press: “Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals”

Fortune: “in a speech branding Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.”

Rolling Stone: “he characterized Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.”

CBS News: “Trump defends calling Mexican immigrants ‘rapists.’”

Time Magazine: “Trump’s comment that Mexican immigrants are ‘rapists.’”

L.A. Times: “describing Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists.’”

Hollywood Reporter: “he referred to Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists.’”

Huffington Post: “He called Latino immigrants ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists.’”

The Washington Post: “He referred to Mexicans as “rapists.”

Politico: “demonizing Mexicans as rapists.”

The Des Moines Register: “Trump’s statements that Mexicans are rapists.”

Note that the various writers or news sources said very different things. I’ve grouped them by what they said.

Compare such words with Trump’s words. Which is worse? Writers excerpted the phrase: “they’re rapists,” as if it were about all Mexican unauthorized immigrants, or worse, about all Mexican immigrants, or even worst, about all Mexicans. But no, that’s not what he said. That’s not what he meant. It was just a remark about a subgroup of people who are sent by Mexico to cross the border.

Notice especially that the news sources were attributing different claims to Trump. Was any of them correct?

In the selection of quotations above, the statement in the New York Times comes closest to Trump’s words. However, it’s still far away because it seems to imply that Trump was labeling all “illegal immigrants” rapists, when he said no such thing. The statements I quoted from the Washington Post, Politico, and the Des Moines Register are the worst, the most offensive, the most incendiary.

When Trump spoke, he had a narrowly stated subject: people Mexico sends into the US, who are not the best people in Mexico. Instead, reporters and news commentators created problems by enlarging the subject. Some said he spoke about all undocumented immigrants from Mexico. That’s the first level of exaggeration.

Other writers said that Trump was referring to all Mexican immigrants. That’s the second level of exaggeration, to make things even worse.

Others said that Trump was speaking about all Latino immigrants. Not true. Others said that he was speaking about all Mexicans, the most encompassing misinterpretation: 132 million Mexicans and 24 million people of Mexican descent.

The trick for misrepresenting Trump’s words can be used against anyone.

For example, on October 7, 2015, at a Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton answered the question: “Which enemy are you most proud of?” She replied: “In addition to the NRA, um, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, um, the Iranians.”

If you do to her what the media did to Trump, then you should believe that Hillary Clinton is proud to be the enemy of 77 million citizens of Iran, plus millions more living outside Iran, including mothers, children, and disabled people. But that’s not what she meant.

On November 6, at the MSNBC Democratic Candidates Forum, Bernie Sanders said: “we have to pass a constitutional amendment that everyone in America who is 18 years old or older is registered to vote.” He said everyone. Someone might then write: “He proposed that everyone who is in the U.S. should vote, everyone who is 18, even illegal immigrants, tourists, and terrorists.” But that’s not what he meant.

It is no wonder that many people think the media is grossly dishonest. No wonder Trump’s critiques of the media made his followers cheer.

Trump was discussing crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants. Is it true that some people who illegally cross the border from Mexico are good? Yes. Is it true that some others commit crimes? Yes. Is that a problem? People disagree. Some conjecture that unauthorized immigrants don’t commit more crimes than U.S. citizens. But crimes by unauthorized immigrants, even murders, would not have happened if those individuals had not entered the United States. Some persons who were convicted of serious crimes in Mexico later enter the U.S. illegally.

Anyhow, discussions about illegal immigration are ruined by lack of data. I asked my friends, university faculty: “How many people do you think are deported per year in the U.S.?”

There are two kinds of deportations: some are caught near the border and “returned,” others are “removed” by a court order.

The media systematically underreports deportations by counting only people who are “removed” from the US. However, both returns and removals consist of forcing foreigners who are in the US to leave the US against their will. So I use the word “deportation” to include both.

Consider the border patrol agents, personnel, the bureaucracy, the lawyers, the resources needed to find people and deport them. How many were deported in 2014?

One of my friends guessed 3,000. Another guessed 10,000. Another guessed 50,000—which would really be a lot of people, imagine.

Actually, in fiscal year 2014, the U.S. deported a total of 893,238 foreigners! That’s a huge number. It includes 577,295 deported by the Department of Homeland Security, plus 315,943 deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among the latter, 2,802 were classified as suspected or confirmed gang members.

Since 1990, the average is 1.2 million deportations per year. The highest in U.S. history was 1.86 million foreigners deported in the year 2000. That’s astonishing. It happened during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

How many were criminals?

We don’t know because most criminals are not caught. Plus, many who are accused are not convicted because of a lack of evidence. Still, in 2014, the U.S. deported 177,960 convicted criminals. Surprisingly, 91,037 were already convicted criminals before they even entered the U.S.

At the University of Texas at Austin, the football stadium can seat 100,119 people. I have seen it full. I’ve see more than 100,000 people at once—it’s an incredible sight. It’s a staggering swarm of people. I have seen them yelling all at once.

It is utterly astonishing to me that this stadium would fail to seat all the convicted criminals deported in a single year.

Back to Mr. Trump. Did he unfairly single out Mexicans when complaining about crimes by unauthorized immigrants?

By far, most Mexicans are good people. However, since Mexico shares a large frontier with the U.S., and many Mexicans face economic hardships, most of the reported illegal immigration into the U.S. is from Mexico. Accordingly, in recent years roughly 76% of criminal unauthorized immigrants are from Mexico.

What kinds of crime? It is strangely difficult to find national statistics on homicides, sexual assaults, and thefts, by unauthorized immigrants. It’s almost as if the government does not want to publish such data. But there is relevant data for some states.

The Texas Department of Public Safety identified 207,076 foreign aliens who were booked into Texas county jails from October 2008 through August 1, 2014. Their term “foreign aliens” includes both foreigners who are in Texas legally and foreigners who entered illegally. They were accused of 357,884 crimes in those 70 months, including these charges: 4,413 terroristic threats, 60,973 robberies and larcenies, 6,636 vehicle thefts, 78,682 assaults, 12,869 sexual assaults and offenses, 1,113 kidnapping, and 3,089 homicides.

That includes, an average of 1,383 charges of sexual assaults per year, in Texas alone. The real number of rapes and sexual assaults is larger since many victims do not report these crimes. According to the National Crime and Victimization Survey, 2008-2012, approximately 68% of sexual assault crimes are not reported. So I estimate that foreigners commit roughly 4,000 sexual assaults in Texas each year.

In Texas, roughly 529 foreigners per year were accused of committing murder. Plus, the FBI reports that 36% of homicides nationwide remain unsolved.

These crime rates are staggering and offensive. None of the women and men who were killed by unauthorized immigrants in Texas would have died if the murderers had not entered the U.S. illegally.

These are not just words. Pause for a moment to think about a Texas woman whose husband was murdered one night. Think about parents who never saw their son again because he was murdered. Think of the thousands of families standing at the cemeteries. If you are annoyed by my words, it is because you have not stopped to really acknowledge that such families and such deaths really do exist.

I’ve only summarized murders and sexual assaults. Consider drugs and drug violence. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, most illegal drugs come from Mexico, including most cocaine and heroine. Most methamphetamines also are smuggled from Mexico. The 2015 National Drug Threat Survey finds that methamphetamines are the drugs that most contribute to property crimes and violent crimes. You get the point. There are tremendous problems of drugs, murders, and rapes caused at the porous border.

Without knowing the data, it was easy to be offended by Mr. Trump’s crude words when he announced his candidacy. However, seeing the data above, I understood his concerns.

Here’s what Trump said right after his words quoted above:

“And it only makes common sense, it only makes common sense: they’re sending us not the right people, and it’s coming from more than Mexico, it’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably, probably from the Middle East. But we don’t know because we have no protection, and we have no competence. We don’t know what’s happening. And it’s gotta stop. And it’s gotta stop fast.”

We can disagree about some points. Is the Mexican government really sending criminals to the U.S.?  On July 5, Trump said: “The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.” This claim might be false if Mexico does not intentionally send criminals to the US. At its best, this statement seems plausible if Trump meant that conditions generated in Mexico by its government lead some criminals to the U.S.

Trump explained what he meant in a speech at Nevada, on October 2, 2015: “they send people through, that they don’t want. Do you remember the old days with [Fidel] Castro when he emptied his jails and sent them all [the Marielitos] to the United States? Well Mexico does similar things, in a highly sophisticated and much more sophisticated manner.”

Our immediate urge is to disagree with Trump, to say he’s lying. But it’s partly because it’s him. No political commentators became annoyed, in 2006, when similarly Hillary Clinton said that Mexico is “pushing” people into the U.S.:

“Mexico is such an important problem on our doorstep. … the Mexican government’s policies are pushing migration north across our border! … There isn’t any sensible approach except to do what we need to do simultaneously: secure our borders, technology, personnel, physical barriers if necessary at some places… If they’ve committed transgressions of whatever kind, they should be obviously deported. “

But most importantly, the question is whether indeed it’s true that the Mexican government actually pushes or sends some people into the U.S.

In fact, the Mexican government did produce materials and services to assist immigrants to enter the U.S., even without U.S. authorization. The Mexican Secretary of External Relations, for example, published a guidebook: “Guía del Migrante Mexicano.”

It informs undocumented Mexican migrants “about the rights you have in that country [the U.S.] once you’re there, independently of your migrant status.” It explained “Dangers of Crossing through a High Risk Zone,” such as crossing a river at night, advising that lighter clothing is preferable. It advised that one should cross the desert only when it’s not too hot, and that drinking saltwater helps for retaining liquids in one’s body, to diminish the risk of dehydration. It advised migrants to orient themselves by following electrical power lines and train tracks. It advised migrants to distrust guides, “coyotes,” but to ensure that they remain in sight. It advised migrants not to carry weapons, and how to behave when captured by the Border Patrol.

It advised migrants that they are not obligated to state their migratory status if they are detained. It also advised Mexicans jailed for committing crimes. It explained how to avoid being deported back into Mexico. It listed Mexican Consulates, government offices, and a radio station that provide help for unauthorized migrants.

In any case, Trump proposed to secure the southern border by implementing various security measures. His most recurring proposal was to build a wall, along areas of the border lacking natural barriers.

His proposal was widely criticized. Some people construed it as a sign of racism, xenophobia, etc. However, I understood why many of Trump’s followers actually cheered: “Build the Wall! Build the Wall!”

First, there are the worries about murders, drugs, crimes, and terrorism. Presently, countless many unauthorized immigrants walk into the country, unchecked. In fiscal year 2014, the Border Patrol made 468,407 apprehensions along the southwest border. By comparison, the Border Patrol only made 18,244 apprehensions in all other regions.

But one point sticks in my mind. Namely this: there already exist a long series of fences and walls between Mexico and the U.S. These fences and walls span parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. As of early 2012, the Department of Homeland Security had completed 652 miles of fences and walls. Trump did not build all that. It was mandated by Congress.

Walls are common along many countries’ borders, such as Spain, China, France, Greece, Pakistan, Israel, etc. The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans roughly 1,950 miles. Trump wants a wall that will be 1,000 miles long, including areas already covered.

I’m not trying to convince you about a wall. My point is just that it’s neither impossible nor ridiculous. A main reason why many border areas have fences instead of walls is just that walls are more expensive.

Trump says that everyone who didn’t enter the U.S. legally should return to their countries. “They have to go.” We might well disagree. But his view is closer to Immigration law. If you prefer amnesty then lawmakers have to create a law to that effect. Trump insists: “I want people to come in, but they have to come in legally.”

Regardless, countless many people think that Trump is racist against Mexicans. I suggest that anyone who thinks that should count how many times Trump has praised Mexicans. I started doing it when I was collecting material for the present article. Eventually I had so many examples I just could not continue, out of exhaustion.

For example, on July 6, Trump explained: “many fabulous people come in from Mexico and our country is better for it. But these people are here legally, and are severely hurt by those coming in illegally. I am proud to say that I know many hard working Mexicans—many of them are working for and with me…and, just like our country, my organization is better for it. […] I have great respect for Mexico and love their people and their peoples’ great spirit.”

He said such things again and again, to tens of thousands of people at rallies in Texas, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, Florida, California, Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, etc. Trump said: “I love the Mexican people,” they’re “great people.” He said: “they’re incredible people,” who contribute much to the US, and that “their leaders are smarter” than US politicians. He said: “Hispanics are fantastic people.” Trump proclaimed “great respect” for the Mexican people and their leaders. People did not know that he said these things because the press did not report it.

Most unauthorized immigrants are good people. But still, the media wrongly blamed Mr. Trump for their own misrepresentations.

Reporters and pundits succeeded in using Trump to insult many millions of Mexicans, and agitating countless many people to hate and fear Trump, as if he had said such things. 

 

An expanded, revised version of this article is now available in the new book: The Media Versus the Apprentice: The Devil Mr. Trump.

 

Alberto A. Martinez is a professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Next:  Trump Praised Mexicans a Hundred Times

 

Versions of this article were originally published in SALON and Intellihub.