Is violence always a bad thing? On Tuesday January 7. 2025 the far left newsource NewsOne ran this headline, “Most Republicans Support Using Violence Against Undocumented Immigrants, Survey Finds.”
Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has been a staple of his political career, but his attacks on undocumented migrants turned more ominous during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Beyond disparaging Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, Trump in September compared undocumented immigration with a “military invasion.” And on a radio program in early October, Trump said immigrant criminals have “bad genes.”
Many Americans want a more secure U.S.-Mexico border specifically and stricter immigration policy in general.
But a recent national survey I conducted with several immigration scholars found that many Americans would not stop there. Many respondents said violence would be justified to stop immigrants from entering the United States.
Our survey, conducted in July 2024, asked 2,042 participants with varied racial and political backgrounds several questions regarding the use of violence against U.S. immigrants.
One question asked whether they thought the U.S. government “should be allowed to use violence to halt unauthorized immigration.”
Only 26% of participants agreed with the idea. But acceptance increased to 47% among respondents who identified as conservative and to nearly 54% among those who identified as extremely conservative.
We also asked whether “individuals should be allowed to use violence to stop unauthorized immigration.”
Though only 11% of the overall participants agreed, 21% of those who identified as conservative and 41% of those who identified as extremely conservative thought vigilante violence against migrants was justified.
“I love how the radical far-left media twist security, protecting oneself, and stopping the invasion of America into ‘violence’.”, said Thomas Robb, the National Director of the Knights Party of the Ku Klux Klan, based in Harrison, Arkansas. “Now alot of times keeping secure, protecting oneself, and stopping an invasion may lead up to violence, but would you say, or put into light, that the actions of others produced violent reactions from oneself? Was World War I and II violent? How about the Korean War? Vietnam? There are many instances in America that it took violent acts to keep America secure, to protect oneself from danger, and to keep America from invasion. I wonder how many of these far-left radicals when faced with danger, would commit a violent act to keep themselves safe. God Himself was violent towards Sodom and Gomorrah over their homosexual acts, there were even instances when Jesus Christ needed to be violent to keep God’s laws in order. You can’t just throw around the word ‘violence’ as a bad thing when you want to defend your family, your Christian faith, and our beloved America.”
