Americans are overloaded with the quantity of campaign advertising flooding their television, and social media feeds as the November election draws closer. It is predicted that by election day, more than $9.7 billion will have been spent on campaign advertisements. 2 million commercials ran exclusively on national television between January 6, 2021, and August 7, 2022.

Unfortunately, certain members of the public may be harmed by the frequency of campaign advertising because of its strong emphasis on immigration and immigrants.

Even though there has been an anti-immigrant political climate in the United States for multiple election cycles, the number of political advertisements that emphasize border enforcement this election cycle seems to rise. According to America’s Voice, 52.6 million times have been spent viewing 700 distinct paid advertisements on voters’ social media feeds, many of which are racist, divisive, and anti-immigrant. Many of these advertisements aim to incite fear and xenophobia by presenting the immigration debate as an “invasion” of immigrants entering the country.

The primaries push candidates to rally the more irrational elements of their respective parties. Therefore, it is not surprising that there were several anti-immigrant and border enforcement advertisements during the Republican primary. What is striking, though, is that during the primary season in non-border states, campaign advertisements featured the Southern border as their backdrop. This featured advertisements claiming conditions as far from the wall as South Carolina and Alabama were plagued by crime and narcotics due to porous borders.

We are curious to see what effects the widespread exposure to anti-immigrant campaign advertisements may have on Latinos’ sentiments.

Latino exposure to political advertisements and its effects on Latino families

To gauge the extent of Latinos’ exposure to anti-immigrant campaign advertising, we rely on the Abriendo Puertas/Unidos US National Latino Family Survey. In the study, participants were asked if they had seen any political advertisements on television or online that they believed were discriminatory or designed to influence the public’s perception of immigrants. A higher percentage of registered voters reported exposure, with 36% of Latino parents or primary caregivers reporting seeing these ads.

Respondents who had seen these advertisements were questioned about how they felt in the National Latino Family Survey. The graphic below shows that “anger” was the most commonly reported reaction among Latinos in the sample. Those who were born abroad gave this response more often than those who were born here (+6% compared to those who were born here).

“Nervous/anxious” (40%) and “scared” (27%) were cited by respondents as the following two most frequent reactions. When taken together, 67 percent of Latinos nationwide noted these two outcomes, frequently measured in mental health studies. This is in line with the literature that shows how the nation’s anti-immigrant politics has a detrimental effect on immigrants’ mental health. The racist policies of Trump’s administration increased anti-immigrant sentiment, and studies have shown a connection between these racist policies and Latinos’ anxiety and depressive symptoms.

In my research, I have discovered that living in areas with harsh immigration laws affects Latinos, not just immigrants. This explains why U.S.-born Latinos, who are not immigrants themselves, are more likely than immigrants in the sample (+7% for U.S.-born Latinos compared to the whole piece) to report feeling worried when encountering anti-immigrant campaign advertising.

A further 29% of those surveyed said that after seeing these campaign advertisements, they felt that “people do not want me here in the United States.” The social science literature has indicated that Latinos frequently report feelings of not belonging or feeling undervalued when exposed to discrimination, making this response a crucial one to monitor.

15 percent of Latino parents and primary caregivers said they thought the campaign ad they saw “was spot on with what needs to be done with immigration policy,” illustrating the diversity of Latino beliefs.

Implications and Solutions That May Be Found

The increase in these anti-immigrant advertisements is a sign that this harsh political discourse is becoming more widely accepted, which regrettably implies that the Latino population will continue to be exposed to more anxiety-inducing political images than before. Given the effect these advertisements have on Latinos’ view of their welcome in this nation, this is a problem that we should all be concerned about. The degree to which you feel valued, and a part of a society significantly impacts your civic participation. Regardless of whatever party Latinos choose to support, the evidence that exposure to anti-immigrant campaign commercials affects a sense of belonging concerns those interested in Latino civic engagement.

Networks should be pressured to forbid the airing of this kind of hate speech and fearmongering to prevent millions of people from being exposed to it.

Preventing these damaging advertisements from ever being seen would be one way to tackle them. Networks should be pressured to forbid the airing of this kind of hate speech and fearmongering to prevent millions of people from being exposed to it. Networks should be held accountable for what they choose to broadcast, whether through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing a complaint to enforce regulations or putting social pressure on change.

Given the restricted access to mental health services the Latino population has had both before and during the pandemic, the effects of a substantial rise in anti-immigrant campaign advertisements on the mental health of Latino Americans are significant. Latinos are less likely to receive treatment for depression and anxiety according to guidelines than white Americans are, and they are twice as likely to have delays in receiving mental health care. This community’s long-term mental health issues can be addressed by extending access to high-quality mental health services to a more significant segment of the Latino community.

Analysis by: Advocacy Unified Network