Opinion | Why many immigrants believe the 'big lie' — and will again - The Washington Post

Minh-Thu Pham is a former refugee from Vietnam and co-founder of New American Voices, which mobilizes Asian American and immigrant voters.

For many, the Lunar New Year is a chance to reckon with the past in preparation for what’s ahead. Last year, many immigrants believed Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the presidential election. Without efforts to counteract misinformation targeted at their communities, they will do so again.

At the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Confederate flags and other symbols of white nationalism were flown alongside the flag of South Vietnam, my parents’ homeland, which was taken over by communists in 1975. The flags of India, Israel, Cuba, Taiwan and pre-revolution Iran also appeared on the Capitol steps.

Right-wing propaganda campaigns are already targeting immigrants for next time. Despite evidence that Latino and Asian immigrants are vulnerable to misinformation, too little attention has been paid to them.

Advocates should be mobilizing immigrant populations to be champions of democracy. Instead, antidemocratic forces have captured their attention.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Like my family, which fled authoritarianism after the Vietnam War, most immigrants and refugees arriving in the United States are already committed to democracy. Having left everything behind in search of freedom, security and a better future, they’re determined to rebuild their lives — and defend their new country.

Thus, any perceived threats to U.S. democracy are taken seriously. This makes immigrants receptive to the messaging of far-right authoritarian populists who claim — as in the attack on the Capitol — to be defending the country from a radical socialist takeover.

Almost anyone with first-generation immigrants in their family can tell you about the uncle or auntie who has been manipulated by misinformation. I recently had some tough but respectful conversations with family members who have been co-opted by anti-communist rhetoric to believe the “big lie.” They are convinced that the Chinese Communist Party funded Dominion voting machines, that President Biden is overly influenced by communists, and that the Democrats want to cheat “again” by letting noncitizens vote in the next presidential election.

Their primary sources of political news are native-language talk-show hosts spinning mistruths, along with emotionally charged videos forwarded from friends on messaging apps.

Likewise, the Chinese Americans and members of the Chinese diaspora who donated to the Proud Boys believed that the group was protecting the United States from a communist takeover. Spanish-speaking communities in Florida and Texas regularly hear that Biden is a socialist comparable to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Some immigrants might also have been motivated by anti-Black sentiment, arising from a misunderstanding about inequities perpetuated by systemic racism.

Armed with efficient ways to spread untruths, antidemocratic forces are taking advantage of immigrants who have limited access to reliable information in their primary languages and are prone to being swayed by narratives that inflame underlying fears based on homeland politics. YouTube and Facebook are flush with commentators spouting lies about the 2020 election, but who are ignored by content moderators because the material isn’t in English. The fact-based, pro-democratic equivalent is practically nonexistent.

The good news: Immigrants’ commitment to democracy could also help save it.

In 2020, new Americans played a decisive role in preventing Trump — with his admiration of authoritarians such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un — from winning a second term. This occurred partly because advocacy groups conducted outreach to first- and second-generation Asian Americans in their native languages in swing states.

But one-third did not. Entrepreneurial, religiously devout, anti-communist immigrants are a swing constituency. That’s why the antidemocracy right has ramped up efforts to persuade them.

Unfortunately, small-d democrats have done very little to stop this.

New Americans can help determine the fate of U.S. democracy. But that means reaching them where they are — via ethnic media, social and messaging apps, community and faith-based centers — and providing counternarratives in their primary languages.

Those on the side of democracy cannot take the United States’ increasing diversity for granted or assume that political outreach at the margins doesn’t matter. It does. We must appeal to immigrants if democracy is to win in 2024.

Request for Reader Submission

Do you have an immigrant family member who has fallen for election misinformation? Share your story with The Washington Post.

In a recent guest opinion, Minh-Thu Pham writes about how Donald Trump's "big lie" about the presidential election spread in immigrant communities. We're interested in hearing from readers whose loved ones have been susceptible to this type of misinformation. Share your experience with us, and a journalist may follow up with you. Full terms here.

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