Fox News host Jesse Watters opened his show on Wednesday night by telling his audience that there is “a migrant crime spree that is killing Americans” and that “the president’s an accessory to murder.” Over on-screen text proclaiming “MIGRANT CRIME SPREE HITS AMERICA,” he listed a handful of incidents in which immigrants allegedly committed crimes.
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Watters excoriated President Biden for focusing on guns in an address about crime, instead of other things, including “Black fathers.” To focus on military-style weapons, Watters said, ignored that “the issue with Black-on-Black crime is handguns.” But most of his opprobrium was centered on that other group of alleged criminals.
“Now,” he warned, “we’re dealing with migrant crime.”
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A month ago, this idea of “migrant crime” was not part of the Fox News patter. In late January, host John Roberts introduced a story about Chicago by asserting that, while dealing with strains because of the arrival of immigrants to the city, there was also another problem: “migrant crime.” But that was an isolated mention. It wasn’t yet a focus of his employer’s coverage.
It has since become one. Over the past month, Fox News hosts, guests and video clips have mentioned “migrant crime” nearly 90 times, more than half of those in the past 10 days. The reason has a little bit to do with a police official in New York City. It has a lot to do with Donald Trump.
At the start of February, the phrase “migrant crime” was picking up a bit in Fox News usage. Host Laura Ingraham, long one of the most fervently right-wing voices on immigration in conservative media, invoked the term more than once, including offering the suggestion that there was a “migrant crime wave” in New York. Fox Business host Larry Kudlow — a veteran of the Trump administration — picked it up as well.
Then, on Feb. 5, New York Mayor Eric Adams hosted a news conference centered on public safety. Adams has for months been at odds with the Biden administration over the increase in immigrants in the city, pressing the federal government for more resources to address the issue. At the news conference, he and his team specifically argued that immigrants were affecting crime in the city.
“In recent months, a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city,” New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at the news conference. He was speaking in the wake of an incident in which immigrants had scuffled with police in Times Square, an incident that was in heavy rotation on Fox News and that was later shown not to have unfolded the way police first suggested.
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“By no means do the individuals committing these crimes represent the vast number of people coming to New York to build a better life,” Caban continued. But when Fox picked up his remarks in its coverage the following day, that part was snipped out. Instead, they jumped ahead to another part of his comments, where he intoned that these were “essentially ghost criminals: no criminal history, no photos, no cellphone, no social media.”
The New York Times subsequently noted that there has not been an uptick in crime in the city in recent months. In fact, both violent and property crimes are mostly down in 2024 relative to the same point in 2023. But Fox News has never placed the burden of verification on its claims about crime. There are high-profile examples of alleged crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally, so Fox News hosts were happy to elevate Caban’s assertion.
Trump quickly picked up on the idea. Speaking at a National Rifle Association conference earlier this month, he used the term explicitly.
“We call it migrant crime,” he said. “It’s unbelievable what’s going on. And now for the first time, you’re seeing migrant crime. These are tough people.”
Never mind that Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign launch was centered on the idea that immigrants entering the United States were criminals. Trump had picked up on a new political slogan.
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It really caught on after he appeared in a one-on-one conversation with Ingraham.
“It’s a new category,” he told Ingraham, who had used the term more than two weeks before. “I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but I came up with this one: migrant crime. There’s ‘crime,’ there’s ‘violent crime,’ there’s ‘migrant crime.’”
“We have a new category of crime,” he continued. “It’s called migrant crime and it’s going to be worse than any other form of crime.”
The day after that interview aired, Fox News used “migrant crime” more than 20 times on-air, including in clips of Trump’s comments. (MSNBC aired it more than a dozen times, in a far more critical context.)
Since then, Fox News has mentioned “migrant crime” on-air every single day. And that’s just in spoken conversation. During a White House event on Wednesday, Fox News superimposed on-screen criticism: “BIDEN IGNORES MIGRANT CRIME DURING REMARKS.”
The political and cultural utility here is obvious. No one wants to appear to be on the side of people committing horrible crimes. Pushing back on exaggerated, baseless claims of rampant illegality opens you up to facile rejoinders about being uninterested in or soft on crime. That makes it easy to allege a crime wave without evidence. Like this one. Beyond high-profile examples of alleged criminality, there’s no evidence that crime is being pushed significantly higher thanks to immigrants — nor, more specifically, is there evidence (as Trump claims) that criminals are intentionally being sent to the United States.
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But what’s Jesse Watters going to do? Offer his audience a nuanced assessment of criminality and immigration? Deploy rhetoric that isn’t specifically aimed at tearing down Biden and the left? Probably not.
And what’s Trump going to do? Not use the idea in campaign videos?
“Migrant crime is taking over America,” Trump said in a video posted to social media. He suggested that Biden had allowed an “invasion of our country,” allowing people “into American communities to prey on our people.” He alleged that a “Biden migrant” had committed a murder in Georgia after “Crooked Joe” ordered the immigrant to be released.
Needless to say, the president has no role in individual immigration decisions. But no matter. Look for Trump’s allies to pick up this line of rhetoric imminently.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
Watters excoriated President Biden for focusing on guns in an address about crime, instead of other things, including “Black fathers.” To focus on military-style weapons, Watters said, ignored that “the issue with Black-on-Black crime is handguns.” But most of his opprobrium was centered on that other group of alleged criminals.
“Now,” he warned, “we’re dealing with migrant crime.”
Sign up for How To Read This Chart, a weekly data newsletter from Philip Bump
A month ago, this idea of “migrant crime” was not part of the Fox News patter. In late January, host John Roberts introduced a story about Chicago by asserting that, while dealing with strains because of the arrival of immigrants to the city, there was also another problem: “migrant crime.” But that was an isolated mention. It wasn’t yet a focus of his employer’s coverage.
It has since become one. Over the past month, Fox News hosts, guests and video clips have mentioned “migrant crime” nearly 90 times, more than half of those in the past 10 days. The reason has a little bit to do with a police official in New York City. It has a lot to do with Donald Trump.
At the start of February, the phrase “migrant crime” was picking up a bit in Fox News usage. Host Laura Ingraham, long one of the most fervently right-wing voices on immigration in conservative media, invoked the term more than once, including offering the suggestion that there was a “migrant crime wave” in New York. Fox Business host Larry Kudlow — a veteran of the Trump administration — picked it up as well.
Then, on Feb. 5, New York Mayor Eric Adams hosted a news conference centered on public safety. Adams has for months been at odds with the Biden administration over the increase in immigrants in the city, pressing the federal government for more resources to address the issue. At the news conference, he and his team specifically argued that immigrants were affecting crime in the city.
“In recent months, a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city,” New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at the news conference. He was speaking in the wake of an incident in which immigrants had scuffled with police in Times Square, an incident that was in heavy rotation on Fox News and that was later shown not to have unfolded the way police first suggested.
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“By no means do the individuals committing these crimes represent the vast number of people coming to New York to build a better life,” Caban continued. But when Fox picked up his remarks in its coverage the following day, that part was snipped out. Instead, they jumped ahead to another part of his comments, where he intoned that these were “essentially ghost criminals: no criminal history, no photos, no cellphone, no social media.”
The New York Times subsequently noted that there has not been an uptick in crime in the city in recent months. In fact, both violent and property crimes are mostly down in 2024 relative to the same point in 2023. But Fox News has never placed the burden of verification on its claims about crime. There are high-profile examples of alleged crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally, so Fox News hosts were happy to elevate Caban’s assertion.
Trump quickly picked up on the idea. Speaking at a National Rifle Association conference earlier this month, he used the term explicitly.
“We call it migrant crime,” he said. “It’s unbelievable what’s going on. And now for the first time, you’re seeing migrant crime. These are tough people.”
Never mind that Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign launch was centered on the idea that immigrants entering the United States were criminals. Trump had picked up on a new political slogan.
Trump vs. Biden on immigration: 12 charts comparing U.S. border security
It really caught on after he appeared in a one-on-one conversation with Ingraham.
“It’s a new category,” he told Ingraham, who had used the term more than two weeks before. “I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but I came up with this one: migrant crime. There’s ‘crime,’ there’s ‘violent crime,’ there’s ‘migrant crime.’”
“We have a new category of crime,” he continued. “It’s called migrant crime and it’s going to be worse than any other form of crime.”
The day after that interview aired, Fox News used “migrant crime” more than 20 times on-air, including in clips of Trump’s comments. (MSNBC aired it more than a dozen times, in a far more critical context.)
Since then, Fox News has mentioned “migrant crime” on-air every single day. And that’s just in spoken conversation. During a White House event on Wednesday, Fox News superimposed on-screen criticism: “BIDEN IGNORES MIGRANT CRIME DURING REMARKS.”
The political and cultural utility here is obvious. No one wants to appear to be on the side of people committing horrible crimes. Pushing back on exaggerated, baseless claims of rampant illegality opens you up to facile rejoinders about being uninterested in or soft on crime. That makes it easy to allege a crime wave without evidence. Like this one. Beyond high-profile examples of alleged criminality, there’s no evidence that crime is being pushed significantly higher thanks to immigrants — nor, more specifically, is there evidence (as Trump claims) that criminals are intentionally being sent to the United States.
Mapping the Texas governor’s effort to control the border at Eagle Pass
But what’s Jesse Watters going to do? Offer his audience a nuanced assessment of criminality and immigration? Deploy rhetoric that isn’t specifically aimed at tearing down Biden and the left? Probably not.
And what’s Trump going to do? Not use the idea in campaign videos?
“Migrant crime is taking over America,” Trump said in a video posted to social media. He suggested that Biden had allowed an “invasion of our country,” allowing people “into American communities to prey on our people.” He alleged that a “Biden migrant” had committed a murder in Georgia after “Crooked Joe” ordered the immigrant to be released.
Needless to say, the president has no role in individual immigration decisions. But no matter. Look for Trump’s allies to pick up this line of rhetoric imminently.
