President Donald Trump ‘s Cabinet (White House) has in recent weeks deepened its demonization of immigrants, accusing them of bringing infected cows with them into the country, which has allegedly generated the rise in meat prices, in a false narrative to hide its economic blunders, experts warn EFE.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been the latest to attack undocumented immigrants, after stating -in an interview with FOX- that the increase in the price of beef in the U.S. is due to immigrants bringing diseased cattle across the border.
Bessent sparks ridicule and criticism
“Due to mass immigration, a disease that we had eradicated in North America has spread from South America, as these migrants brought some of their livestock with them.”
The secretary said after being asked about reports indicating that the price of beef could reach ten dollars per pound next year.
Bessent tried to justify his words by arguing that the U.S. has had to close the border to Mexican beef due to screwworm infestations.
Social networks have been filled with memes illustrating undocumented immigrants trying to pass cattle over the border fence, in reference to Bessent’s words.
These statements also provided material for Mexican-American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz to share a scathing critique of Trump and his current cabinet (White House).
“I have to tell Bessent that the cows are easier to transport to the U.S. because they fit perfectly inside a tortilla, with a salsa and onions.”
The artist, who captured his discontent in a drawing, told EFE.
A “dangerous” narrative
For Ricardo Valencia, a professor at California State University Fullerton, Bessent’s message continues in a “dangerous way” the anti-immigrant narrative encouraged by Trump.
“It’s a very well-crafted fiction that perpetuates the demonization of immigrants that has worked very well for the GOP when they want to divert voters’ attention,” the professor tells EFE.
Valencia believes that the Treasury Secretary’s outburst seeks to justify the high cost of living that has sparked voter discontent.
The most recent Ipsos and Reuters poll agrees with the professor.
Only 26% of those polled between Nov. 14-17 believe Trump is adequately managing the cost of living.
Blame for the lack of housing
Bessent has not been alone in blaming the country’s economic problems on the undocumented.
Last week U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said – in another interview with FOX – that the increase in undocumented immigration has driven up home prices.
“Many young people say housing is too expensive. Why? Because we have flooded the country with thirty million illegal immigrants.”
The vice president stated in the conversation, in which he raised without evidence the number of immigrants without status living in the US.
Vance claimed that the undocumented immigrants were “occupying homes that should rightfully belong to U.S. citizens.”
At a time when the country “is not building enough new housing.”
“He’s trying to repeat the narrative of the far right in Canada and England.”
“Where the state has greater control over the social housing offered to the market, something that does not happen in the U.S.,” says Professor Valencia.
Call to dismantle false narratives
For his part, Miguel Tinker Salas, a retired Pomona College professor, warns that the massive deportations that Vance (White House) boasted about and that would help combat the housing shortage would have the opposite effect, due to the lack of construction labor.
“The goal (of this narrative) is to reunite the base that is fractured by the high cost of living and scandals like Jeffrey Epstein’s,” adds Professor Tinker Salas.
For both Alcaraz and Valencia, it is necessary for the immigrant community to denounce and disprove this kind of narrative.
“Even if you think it’s wasted time, we can’t keep quiet.”
“It is our duty to answer and show that both accusations are false, and that both (Bessent and Vance) are ignorant of immigration,” Valencia said.
With information from EFE
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