By Owen Zanni

 Donald Trump’s resurgence in the 2024 U.S. presidential election represents more than an isolated political phenomenon; it reflects a broader global trend of xenophobic nationalism redefining immigration policy across continents. Immigration was a key issue during the 2024 U.S. election, with data from the Pew Research Center showing that61 percent of American voters believed that immigration was “very important in their vote.” Trump capitalized on these concerns, using xenophobia as a key tool in his rhetoric, most infamously when he claimed that Haitian migrants were “eating the dogs” and “the cats.”  The U.S. is far from alone in this shift—across the globe, xenophobic nationalism is reshaping political landscapes and redefining policy.

On the other side of the world, in Japan, Sanae Takaichi of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) successfully campaigned for Prime Minister through similar messaging. Like Trump, Takaichi stressed Japan’s need for a reformed immigration policy, calling for restrictions on non-Japanese people buying property in Japan and a crackdown on illegal immigration. Furthermore, Takaichi’s rhetoric also extended to anecdotal claims that foreign influence was attacking and endangering Japanese culture, specifically referring to unverified incidents of foreigners kicking sacred deer. 

In recent years, Sanseito, a strongly conservative populist political party in Japan opposing “excessive acceptance of foreigners,” has experienced massive gains in popularity, driven largely by voters who believe the LDP has drifted away from its conservative roots. Takaichi’s anti-immigration stance reflects the LDP’s effort to reclaim its grip on Japan’s conservative electorate, asSanseito’s Japan First movement continues to attract voters who once supported the LDP.

Paralleling the shift seen in Japan’s political landscape, public opinion in the United Kingdom has driven the government toward increasingly harsh immigration policies. Following a similar trend to the U.S., the percentage of U.K. voters indicating immigration as their top issue has surged since the 2024 general election. This surge has fueled the populist anti-immigration party Reform U.K.’s dramatic rise in popularity, with polling data showing their current support has more than doubled since 2024. Like Trump, much of Reform U.K.’s success can be ascribed to their xenophobic messaging, which relies on blaming immigration for creating issues such as “cultural damage” and “broken communities” across the country.

In response to these growing public fears, the U.K. has intensified immigration policy, increasing the number of enforced migrant returns and removal of foreign national offenders between July 2024 and January 2025. Echoing the ICE raids sweeping the U.S., U.K. Immigration Enforcement conducted an astonishing 11,000 workplace raids between October 2024 and September 2025, causing the number of illegal working arrests in the U.K. to increase by 63 percent. 

Donald Trump’s success in the United States reflects more than a shift in American politics. Across nations like Japan and the U.K., the growth of anti-immigration sentiment reveals that xenophobic nationalism is a rising—and defining—political force that threatens to continue shaping global politics.