What’s behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime?

Sign on to social media these days, and you’ll soon find posts warning about the threat posed by immigrants to your family’s — and your pets’ — safety.

Immigrants are eating the dogs, cats and geese in Springfield, Ohio, some posts have claimed. (They’re wrong.) They’re also taking over apartment complexes in Colorado and Chicago, or hijacking school buses in California, others have said. (No, they’re not.)

Much of the rhetoric about a purported immigrant crime wave has stemmed from or was amplified by former President Donald Trump, his supporters and other high-profile conservatives on social media, such as X owner Elon Musk.