MS-13 'Animals' and Dehumanizing Rhetoric: Using Gang Labels to Target Immigrant Communities
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Trump's use of 'animals' to describe MS-13 members — and his conflation of the gang label with immigrants broadly — followed the same pattern documented in incitement to ethnic violence: dehumanization of a group, followed by calls for harsh treatment. Scholars of political violence noted the specific language echoed anti-Tutsi propaganda before the Rwandan genocide and Nazi propaganda before the Holocaust. Trump used similar dehumanizing framing for other immigrant groups, describing Central American migrants as an 'infestation' and an 'invasion.'
Overview
The word "animals" is not neutral when used by a head of state to describe a national or ethnic group. Political scientists and genocide scholars have documented its role in incitement: dehumanizing language — calling human beings animals, vermin, insects, or cockroaches — is a documented precursor to mass violence. It creates the psychological permission structure that allows ordinary people to participate in atrocities by convincing them that the targets are not really human.
Trump used the word to describe MS-13 gang members. He also used dehumanizing language far more broadly — "infestation," "invasion," "animals" — for Central American migrants, asylum seekers, and undocumented people generally.
The Pattern
The specific language matters. "Infest" is a word applied to insects. "Invasion" is military language applied to a group of people most of whom are asylum seekers fleeing violence. "Animals" denies humanity. Each term, individually, might be dismissed as imprecision. The pattern — consistent, repeated, applied to an ethnic and national group — is what genocide scholars recognize as deliberate dehumanization.
The El Paso shooter's manifesto used the phrase "Hispanic invasion of Texas" before killing 23 people. He was not the first person radicalized by that framing; he was the first to act on it in that particular way.
The Defense
Trump's defenders argued the "animals" comment was specifically about violent gang members, not immigrants broadly. The Washington Post reviewed the full transcript and surrounding context and found the distinction was not as clear as the defense suggested. More importantly, the broader corpus of Trump's immigration rhetoric — "infestation," "invasion," repeated use of violent imagery for asylum seekers — made the defense of a single comment implausible as a description of Trump's overall approach.
The dehumanization was systematic. Its effects were measurable in hate crime statistics.
Timeline
Sequence of events
May 16, 2018
'Animals' remark at California sheriffs meeting
Trump says MS-13 members are 'not people' and calls them 'animals' at a White House meeting with California sheriffs. The comment generates international coverage; Mexico lodges a diplomatic protest, calling the language unacceptable.
June 19, 2018
Trump tweets that immigrants 'infest' America
Trump tweets: 'Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country.' The use of 'infest' — typically applied to insects or pests — is widely noted as dehumanizing.
August 3, 2019
El Paso shooting — manifesto echoes Trump rhetoric
Patrick Crusius kills 23 people in El Paso targeting Latinos. His manifesto uses the phrase 'Hispanic invasion of Texas' — echoing Trump's characterization of Central American migration as an 'invasion.'
September 1, 2020
FBI documents anti-Latino hate crime increase
The FBI's annual hate crime statistics for 2019 show anti-Latino hate crimes increased significantly during the Trump years; advocacy groups document correlations with political rhetoric spikes.
Sources
- ↑ Trump Called Immigrants 'Animals.' Mexico Is Outraged. — The New York Times
- ↑ Trump referred to immigrants as 'animals' — not just MS-13 — The Washington Post
- ↑ Trump 'animals' remark echoes dehumanizing tactics of authoritarians — The Guardian
- ↑ Dehumanizing language and political violence: what research shows — Vox
Verification