Trump campaign faces backlash after posting 2 images side by side that disparage immigrants

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is facing backlash after a post on Tuesday that showed two side-by-side images that disparaged immigrants, writing “Import the third world. Become the third world.”

The image on the left, captioned “Your neighborhood under Trump,” shows a nice, clean town home with the American flag hanging. There are no people in the photo.

The image on the right, captioned “Your neighborhood under Kamala,” shows a cropped version of a Getty Images photo of migrants in New York City in August 2023.

The photo mostly features people of color. The Getty Images caption describes the people in the photo as recent migrants that were camping outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, which had been made into a reception center for migrants.

Critics, responding to the post, are accusing the campaign of doubling down on racial hostility and an anti-immigrant sentiment.

“Don’t just take our word for it. They are showing all of us just how racist they are,” wrote NAACP’s X account. “This is what’s on the ballot this November.”

“Well, didn’t take too long for the Trump campaign to get to the openly racist part of their effort,” Bill Burton, former deputy press secretary for former President Barack Obama, wrote in a post on X.

The Trump campaign doubled down on the post, saying it “emphasizes the contrast between President Trump and Kamala Harris’ immigration policies.”

“President Trump puts Americans first and secured our border. Kamala Harris has opened our border to millions of illegal immigrants from all over the world and has forced struggling taxpayers to pay for their free entry into the country,” Trump campaign’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News in a statement.

Former Trump campaign adviser Bryan Lanza also defended the post on CNN Tuesday night, saying race was not a factor and “[he doesn’t’] think Republicans look at skin color.”

“I don’t think that that image is racist,” Republican commentator Tricia McLaughlin also said on CNN with Lanza. “I think that they’re showing chaos.”

On the campaign trail, Trump has repeated disparaging rhetoric on undocumented immigrants, claiming they’re criminals and mental health patients and often describing them with racially charged language, calling them “animals” or saying they’re “poisoning the blood of our country.”

The Trump campaign has used similar images and rhetoric showing migrant encampments in their campaign ads and other materials, claiming Vice President Kamala Harris’ agenda includes putting “illegals first.” In addition to highlighting various migrant crimes, the Trump campaign touts its “America-first agenda” as well as their promise of mass deportation on Day 1 of his presidency should he win.

Trump continues to spread the false claim that Harris was appointed “border czar,” despite Harris never actually having special responsibilities relating to the border.

Rather, Harris was tasked with leading diplomatic efforts to “address the root causes” of migration in Central America, primarily focusing on El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In fact, Biden served a similar role when he was vice president.

“Kamala Harris has pursued a policy of allowing large numbers of unvetted migrants into our country. It has led to predictable and extremely tragic results,” Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, wrote Wednesday morning on X.

During an interview on X Monday night, Trump told Musk that the migrant crisis has “overwhelmed” New York City.

Trump also insisted on repeating sweeping claims that undocumented immigrants are “non-productive” people even after Musk said undocumented immigrants are “probably good, hard-working people.”

At the Republican National Convention last month, Trump emphasized his stance on immigration, and attendees displayed signs calling for “Mass Deportations Now.”

ABC News’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.

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