Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Fact Focus: A Look at Ominous Claims Around Illegal Immigration Made at the Republican Convention
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 8 months ago on
July 17, 2024

Republican convention speakers made ominous claims about illegal immigration that lacked important context or evidence. (AP/Paul Sancya)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MILWAUKEE — After Donald Trump triumphantly entered the hall on the second night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the program turned to one of his signature issues: illegal immigration. An ominous video of chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border led into to a speech by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who declared, “We are facing an invasion on our southern border.”

Here’s a look at some of the claims made Tuesday:

VIDEO NARRATOR: “Biden made one of the worst mistakes of any president in history when he told illegals to come here and surge our border.”

THE FACTS: After the claim, the video cuts to President Joe Biden saying, “I would, in fact, make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border,” and the narrator says, “And surge they did.”

But important context is missing. The clip was taken from the Sept. 12, 2019, Democratic presidential debate. A moderator, Jorge Ramos of Univision, discussing immigration issues, notes that Biden served as vice president in the administration of President Barack Obama, which deported 3 million people. He then asks if Biden is “prepared to say tonight that you and President Obama made a mistake?”

Biden answers by noting immigration accomplishments by Obama and discussing the policies of then-President Trump. He then adds, “What I would do as president is several more things, because things have changed. I would, in fact, make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border. All those people who are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard. That’s who we are.”

Since then Biden has spoken repeatedly of sending agents and other law enforcement resources to the border to deal with the migrant influx.

Fentanyl Scourge Began Before Biden, and Most Traffickers Are U.S. Citizens

VIDEO NARRATOR: “Biden’s incompetence has led to a horrific 300,000 Americans now dead, not from a nuclear bomb but from lethal fentanyl brought in through Biden’s wide-open border.”

THE FACTS: While it is correct that much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico, 86.4% of fentanyl trafficking crimes were committed by U.S. citizens in the 12-month period through September 2023, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

The fentanyl scourge began well before Biden took office. Border seizures, which tell only part of the story, have jumped sharply under Biden, which may partly reflect improved detection. About 27,000 pounds (12,247 kilograms) of fentanyl was seized by U.S. authorities in the 2023 government budget year, compared with 2,545 pounds (1,154 kilograms) in 2019, when Trump was president.

No Evidence Supports Cruz’s Claim of Daily Murders, Assaults, Rapes by Immigrants

CRUZ: “Every day Americans are dying — murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released.”

THE FACTS: A number of heinous and high-profile crimes involving people in the U.S. illegally have been in the news in recent months. But there is nothing to support the claim that it happens every day.

The foreign-born population, immigrants in the country both legally and illegally, was estimated to be 46.2 million, or almost 14% of the U.S. total, in 2022, according to the Census Bureau, including about 11 million in the country illegally. Hardly a month passes without at least one person in the country illegally getting charged with a high-profile, horrific crime, such as the February slaying of a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student or the June strangling death of a 12-year-old Houston girl.

Texas is the only state that tracks crime by immigration status. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences, based on Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012 to 2016, found people in the U.S. illegally had “substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses.”

While FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, there is no evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. Studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Alum Davante Adams Returns to California, Signs with Rams

DON'T MISS

Small Earthquake Rattles Southern California

DON'T MISS

Tribes and Students Sue Trump Administration Over Firings at Native Schools

DON'T MISS

A Single-Engine Plane Crashes Near a Pennsylvania Airport. All 5 Aboard Are Taken to Hospitals.

DON'T MISS

Secret Service Shoots Armed Man Near the White House

DON'T MISS

Super Bowl Stars Josh Sweat and Milton Williams Headline a List of NFL Free Agents

DON'T MISS

ICE Arrests Palestinian Activist Who Helped Lead Columbia University Protests

DON'T MISS

Ex-Central Banker Mark Carney to Become Canada’s Next Prime Minister

DON'T MISS

Israel Cuts off Electricity Supply to Gaza, Affecting a Desalination Plant Producing Drinking Water

DON'T MISS

Tens of Thousands of Mexicans Rally With President to Celebrate US Decision to Delay Tariffs

UP NEXT

Small Earthquake Rattles Southern California

UP NEXT

Tribes and Students Sue Trump Administration Over Firings at Native Schools

UP NEXT

A Single-Engine Plane Crashes Near a Pennsylvania Airport. All 5 Aboard Are Taken to Hospitals.

UP NEXT

Secret Service Shoots Armed Man Near the White House

UP NEXT

Super Bowl Stars Josh Sweat and Milton Williams Headline a List of NFL Free Agents

UP NEXT

ICE Arrests Palestinian Activist Who Helped Lead Columbia University Protests

UP NEXT

Ex-Central Banker Mark Carney to Become Canada’s Next Prime Minister

UP NEXT

Israel Cuts off Electricity Supply to Gaza, Affecting a Desalination Plant Producing Drinking Water

UP NEXT

Tens of Thousands of Mexicans Rally With President to Celebrate US Decision to Delay Tariffs

UP NEXT

Mystery Solved? A Submerged Car From the 1950s May Belong to a Missing Oregon Family

A Single-Engine Plane Crashes Near a Pennsylvania Airport. All 5 Aboard Are Taken to Hospitals.

5 hours ago

Secret Service Shoots Armed Man Near the White House

5 hours ago

Super Bowl Stars Josh Sweat and Milton Williams Headline a List of NFL Free Agents

5 hours ago

ICE Arrests Palestinian Activist Who Helped Lead Columbia University Protests

5 hours ago

Ex-Central Banker Mark Carney to Become Canada’s Next Prime Minister

5 hours ago

Israel Cuts off Electricity Supply to Gaza, Affecting a Desalination Plant Producing Drinking Water

5 hours ago

Tens of Thousands of Mexicans Rally With President to Celebrate US Decision to Delay Tariffs

5 hours ago

Mystery Solved? A Submerged Car From the 1950s May Belong to a Missing Oregon Family

13 hours ago

A Day of Trump-Musk Cost-Cutting Overhauls Federal Government

14 hours ago

Traveling Abroad? If You’re Paying With Dollars, Your Trip Is on Sale.

1 day ago

Fresno State Alum Davante Adams Returns to California, Signs with Rams

LOS ANGELES — Receiver Davante Adams agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, bringing the three-time All-Pro...

4 hours ago

4 hours ago

Fresno State Alum Davante Adams Returns to California, Signs with Rams

The aftermath of the Palisades fire, in Malibu, Calif., Jan. 17, 2025. Residents of parts of Los Angeles County on Sunday afternoon felt a minor earthquake centered west of Malibu, Calif. and preliminary estimates showed that the quake had a magnitude of 4.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (Mark Abramson/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Small Earthquake Rattles Southern California

A "Justice for HINU” sign rests at the base of a statue on the lawn at the entrance of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, Feb. 25, 2025. A group of Native American tribes and students is suing the Trump administration to reverse its recent firing of federal workers at Native schools that they said has severely lowered their quality of education. (Chase Castor/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Tribes and Students Sue Trump Administration Over Firings at Native Schools

First responders work the scene after a plane crashed in the parking lot of a retirement community in Manheim Township, Pa., Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Logan Gehman/LNP/LancasterOnline via AP)
5 hours ago

A Single-Engine Plane Crashes Near a Pennsylvania Airport. All 5 Aboard Are Taken to Hospitals.

The White House in Washington, Feb. 6, 2025. The Secret Service shot a man near the White House early Sunday around midnight on Saturday after an “armed confrontation” with law enforcement officers, the agency said in a statement. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
5 hours ago

Secret Service Shoots Armed Man Near the White House

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Josh Sweat (19) reacts after sacking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP/Matt Slocum)
5 hours ago

Super Bowl Stars Josh Sweat and Milton Williams Headline a List of NFL Free Agents

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is on the Columbia University campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024. (AP File)
5 hours ago

ICE Arrests Palestinian Activist Who Helped Lead Columbia University Protests

Liberal Party of Canada leadership candidate Mark Carney delivers a speech as he's introduced during the Liberal leadership announcement in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
5 hours ago

Ex-Central Banker Mark Carney to Become Canada’s Next Prime Minister

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend