Across the West, a wave of parties branded “far-right,” “xenophobic,” and “nativist” is on the rise. Their entire appeal rests on one promise: reversing the sorry state of immigration. But ironically, this is largely a fiction — served to you by a hostile press and, funnily enough, by the parties themselves. What follows is a tour of the vast chasm between their spittle-flecked immigration rhetoric and what the data actually shows: persistent mediocrity.

In Rome, as you may know, Giorgia Meloni presides over the most prominent hard-right anti-migrant government in modern Italian history. In the late 2010s, she came out swinging with great-replacement rhetoric: there is, she warned, a “plan for ethnic substitution in Italy.” By now, you may be picturing some long-lost Mrs. Mussolini.