Experts say anti-immigrant rhetoric that has intensified in the final weeks before the November presidential election has led to viral — and incorrect — claims on right-wing social media that migrants took over a South Side apartment building Monday night.
Indeed, authorities said the migrants did not enter without weapons or motorcycles, despite rumors spread by X owner Elon Musk and others.
While a 911 call came in around 7:45 p.m. Monday reporting that 32 Venezuelans were “trespassing” and “displaying weapons in the courtyard” of a building in the Washington Park neighborhood, Chicago police said it was a service call and that no police report was generated.
Neighborhood residents and migrants living in the building said the call was baseless.
“There weren’t 32 armed people here last night. That’s a lie,” Anderson Gutierrez, 20, said in Spanish Tuesday morning.
Guitierrez, originally from Venezuela, said he and his siblings moved into the building a few weeks ago.
“Look, there’s no one out there,” he said. “We all know each other. No one’s hurting anyone.”
Immigration experts, who have pointed to similar incidents across the country in recent days, said some people are spreading misleading content about migrants on social media to sway voters in favor of anti-immigrant candidates and causes.
Panic over the emergence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua spread to Colorado last week after Fox News in Denver released surveillance video. The footage, which also went viral, showed a group of men armed with semi-automatic rifles and handguns in an apartment complex in the city of Aurora.
Aurora police could not confirm any gang activity linked to the images, but said they are working with the federal government to monitor gang activity.
“We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora,” Aurora police said in a statement. statement posted on their website Thursday.
The incident sparked a wave of stories from different points of saleXochitl Bada, a professor of Latin American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, questioned the veracity of their reporting. She wondered whether the video itself was generated by AI.
“Social media has no boundaries,” Bada said.
She said it was no coincidence that Musk’s post received more than 100,000 likes on X. Bada was born in Mexico and said the news headlines that emerge from social media make life harder for the vast majority of immigrants.
“When I’m shopping (on the Magnificent Mile) and I go into a department store, I have people following me as I browse,” she said.
On Monday night, several social media accounts picked up on Chicago’s 911 call, including Libs of TikTok, a far-right account known for its frequent anti-LGBTQ posts. Musk, who has increasingly used the social media platform as a microphone to amplify his political views, reposted the scanner audio from crimelsdown.com with two exclamation points.
Councilwoman Jeanette Taylor, 20th, whose ward includes the building, also confirmed that migrants were not wreaking havoc on the property on Monday.
After the city decided to open the shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School in February, there was intense resistance from Community members in Taylor’s neighborhood said the city is spending money on asylum seekers while ignoring longtime residents who have needed resources and support for decades.
This shelter closed mid-Mayand many migrants have settled permanently in the community.
Taylor said her community knows migrants aren’t “taking over power.” She said the reaction to the incident highlights how some politicians are spreading harmful messages instead of addressing issues like homelessness and systemic racism.
“It’s better for them to make it look like Black people and people of color are fighting each other, rather than addressing the real issue and creating real policies that keep everyone safe,” she said.
Alexandra Filindra, a UIC professor of political science and psychology, said anti-immigrant rhetoric has intensified in recent weeks, which she believes is tied to the presidential election. She has been tracking anti-immigrant tweets and posts on social media since December.
Filindra, an expert on U.S. gun policy and immigration policy, said nationalism and xenophobia have led to the targeting of vulnerable people throughout U.S. history. Social media can exacerbate those attacks, she said.
“A few years ago, some things were not published, but today, not only are they published, they are amplified,” Filindra said.
Freddy Cruz, a program manager at the Western States Center think tank, said anti-immigrant sentiment online can have long-term consequences in real life.
“We have seen acts of violence specifically targeting migrants in cities like Pittsburgh, Buffalo and El Paso,” he said.
But on Tuesday morning, as Musk’s post about X received thousands of retweets, the apartment complex was quiet. A man swept trash from the gutter and a group of residents sat on the sidewalk in front of the building.
They pointed to a dirt bike leaning against a fence near the yard, which they said may have prompted the call.
Robert White, 28, who grew up in Chicago, said he has friends and relatives who have lived in the building. He said several dozen migrants now live in the building, many with children. They get along well, he said.
“We’re a band. We’re not doing anything fancy,” White said. “We’re having fun. Sometimes people don’t like to see that. They like to see us fight.”
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