In an alarming turn of events, neo-Nazi groups and the online far right have seized upon the anti-immigration rhetoric propagated by former President Donald Trump during his White House campaign, exploiting it to recruit new supporters and spread their extremist beliefs to wider audiences. The influence of Trump's xenophobic stance on immigration became evident during the Republican National Convention, where supporters flaunted "MASS DEPORTATION NOW!" placards. Since then, Trump has taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share images targeting Vice-President Kamala Harris's views on border control and immigration.

Among the memes circulated by Trump's social media activity are insinuations that the Democrats would allow rapists into the country, as well as a 2012 photograph depicting men in Karachi, Pakistan, burning an American flag, accompanied by the caption: "Meet your neighbors [...] IF KAMALA WINS." Exploiting the existing anti-immigrant sentiments promoted by the Trump campaign, prominent figures within the far-right movement and their online followers have embraced and propagated their brand of anti-immigrant activism.

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), an organization dedicated to monitoring extremism, warned that demonizing and spreading falsehoods about immigrants has become a core aspect of the far-right scene and its anti-immigration messaging. Beirich emphasized that non-white immigrants and refugees are often cast as the primary targets of the far-right's animosity. Disturbingly, the current political climate has led to the "mainstreaming" of ideologies that were once the domain of fringe neo-Nazis, with political figures now adopting and amplifying them.

A troubling example of this dangerous shift can be seen in Springfield, Ohio, where two separate hate groups recently made their presence felt. These groups targeted the town, which has seen an influx of approximately 20,000 Haitian immigrants since the start of the pandemic. The tensions among local residents escalated after a bus crash involving a Haitian driver in 2023 turned the Rust-belt town into a focal point for anti-immigration debates.

In August, Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi group led by ex-US marine Christopher Pohlhaus, descended upon Springfield with swastika flags, some members even wielding rifles, while spewing anti-Black and racist slurs during a jazz festival. Remarkably, one of the leaders of Blood Tribe was granted speaking time at a town forum with local politicians, where they delivered a racially charged message aimed at intimidating local Haitian residents. The leader, believed to be the group's second-in-command, was eventually ejected from the meeting.

While Pohlhaus himself did not appear in Springfield during the summer, he had previously participated in a protest in Maine in 2022 targeting Somali refugees. He used his Telegram account to call on all extremist organizations to "HIT SPRINGFIELD, OHIO." Despite his refusal to respond to inquiries from The Guardian, Pohlhaus remains a highly influential figure within the extremist community. Recently, he promoted a story from a white supremacist propagandist about an alleged sexual assault by a Haitian migrant in Massachusetts.

Another neo-fascist group known as Patriot Front capitalized on the tensions in Springfield and held their own rally over the Labor Day weekend, denouncing what they referred to as a "mass influx of unassimilable Haitian migrants". Additionally, an Ohio-based neo-Nazi collective, the Active Club, leveraged the summer tensions to recruit new members, using social media posts to express their disdain for the Haitian and West African immigrants residing in the state.

Joshua Fisher-Birch from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) has been closely tracking the activities of Blood Tribe and Patriot Front. Fisher-Birch asserts that these groups are utilizing local tensions to hold rallies, generate propaganda, recruit new members, and garner publicity within the broader anti-immigrant landscape. With the upcoming presidential election, these extremist factions view the current political climate as an opportunity to gain momentum and recruit supporters from the disaffected segments of society that sympathize with their anti-immigration agenda.

It is worth noting that although Trump openly referred to Haiti as a "shithole" country with undesirable immigrants during a 2018 Oval Office meeting, it is the far-right propagandists on the internet who have been providing cues to the former president, rather than the other way around. Trump repeatedly referenced a viral video depicting alleged Venezuelan gang members armed in an Aurora, Colorado apartment complex, using it to denounce immigrant criminals entering the country. Despite local law enforcement debunking the claims, Trump continued to reference the incident in subsequent interviews.

Exploiting these moments to inflame tensions, neo-Nazi activists circulated a video on Telegram, allegedly showing them driving through the streets of Aurora with a megaphone, declaring their intention to "take the city back". Similarly, Elon Musk, a devoted admirer of Donald Trump, contributed to the dissemination of disinformation about "32 armed Venezuelans" taking over a building in Chicago, a claim swiftly disproven by police authorities. This disinformation originated from the infamous X account, Libs of TikTok, which has a history of spreading dangerous right-wing propaganda and had previously faced suspension on Twitter.

Heidi Beirich underscores the danger of combining Trump's brand of politics with extremist ideologies, stating that this concoction of misinformation and fearmongering is perceived as a genuine existential threat by white supremacists. This perception provides the motivation for their anti-immigrant activism. The current surge in hate crimes and far-right activities inflamed by the Trump campaign is not unprecedented. A study conducted by the University of North Texas on the 2016 Trump campaign, which prominently featured nativist racism, statistically demonstrated a staggering 226% increase in hate-motivated incidents in regions where Trump held his over 300 rallies.

As the presidential election approaches, it is crucial to remain vigilant against these extremist groups that seek to exploit cultural tensions and promote their dangerous anti-immigrant agenda. The rise of neo-Nazi and far-right recruitment must be met with strong countermeasures and a commitment to fostering inclusive and tolerant communities.