Experts say that anti-immigrant rhetoric that has intensified in the last several weeks ahead of the presidential election in November led to viral — and incorrect — allegations by right-wing social media accounts that migrants took over a South Side building Monday night.
Indeed, authorities said migrants did not trespass with weapons and motorcycles, despite rumors circulated by X owner Elon Musk and others.
While a 911 dispatch call came in about 7:45 p.m. Monday that 32 Venezuelans were “trespassing” and “showing guns in the courtyard” of a building in the Washington Park neighborhood, Chicago police said it was a call of service and that no police report was generated.
Residents in the area and migrants living at the building said the call was unfounded.
“There weren’t 32 armed people here last night. That’s a lie,” said Anderson Gutierrez, 20, in Spanish on Tuesday morning.
Guitierrez, who is from Venezuela, said he and his siblings moved into the building a couple of weeks ago.
“Look, there’s no one outside,” he said. “We all know each other. No one is hurting anyone.”
Immigration experts — who pointed to similar incidents that have unfolded across the country in recent days — said some people are spreading misleading content about migrants on social media to sway voters for anti-immigrant candidates and causes.
Panic over the emergence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua spread in Colorado last week after Fox News in Denver aired a surveillance video. The footage, which also went viral, showed a group of men armed with semi-automatic long guns and pistols in an apartment complex in the city of Aurora.
Aurora police could not confirm any gang activity related to the footage but did say they were working with the federal government to monitor gang activity.
“We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora,” said Aurora police in a statement posted to their website Thursday.
The incident sparked a wave of stories from different outlets. Xochitl Bada, professor of Latin American studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, questioned the truthfulness of their reporting. She wondered if the video itself was AI-generated.
“Social media has no boundaries,” Bada said.
She said it’s no coincidence that Musk’s post received over 100 thousand likes on X. Bada was born in Mexico and said news headlines that emerge from social media make it harder for the vast majority of immigrants.
“When I shop (on the Magnificent Mile) and I go to a large store, I have people following me while I browse,” she said.
Monday night, several social media accounts picked up the Chicago 911 call, including Libs of TikTok, a far right-wing account known for its frequent anti-LGBTQ messaging. 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.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, whose ward encompasses the building, also confirmed that migrants were not wreaking havoc at the property Monday.
After the city decided to open the shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School in February, there was intense pushback from community members in Taylor’s ward who said the city was spending money on asylum-seekers while ignoring longstanding residents who have needed resources and support for decades.
That shelter closed in mid-May, and many migrants have moved into the community permanently.
Taylor said her community knows that migrants are not “taking over.” She said the reaction to the incident highlights the way some politicians spread harmful messages instead of addressing issues such as homelessness and systemic racism.
“It’s better for them to make it seem like Black and brown people fight amongst each other, than for them to deal with the real issue and create real policies that make everybody safe,” she said.
Alexandra Filindra, a political science and psychology professor at UIC, said anti-immigrant rhetoric has intensified over the past several weeks, which she believes is tied to the presidential election. She has been tracking anti-immigrant tweets and social media posts since December.
Filindra, who specializes in American gun politics and immigration policy, said nativism and xenophobia have, throughout United States history, led to targets on vulnerable people. Social media can escalate those attacks, she said.
“Certain things some years ago would not be posted, but today, not only are they posted, but they’re amplified,” Filindra said.
Freddy Cruz, a program manager at the think-tank Western States Center, said anti-immigrant sentiments online can lead to long-term, real-life consequences.
“We’ve seen acts of violence specifically targeting migrants in places like Pittsburgh, Buffalo and El Paso,” he said.
But Tuesday morning, as Musk’s post on X received thousands of retweets, the housing complex was quiet. A man swept trash from the gutter and a group of residents sat on the curb across from the building.
They pointed at a dirt bike propped against a fence near the courtyard, which they joked may have been the impetus for the call.
Robert White, 28, who grew up in Chicago, said he has friends and relatives who have lived in the building. He said there are several dozen migrants who now also live in the building, many with kids. They get along, he said.
“It’s a group of us. We’re not doing nothing out of the ordinary,” White said. “We’re enjoying ourselves. Sometimes people don’t like to see that. They like to see us fighting.”
