Examining the Veracity: Challenging Trump's Octobre Deception on Immigration Matters
Trump's recent speeches and interviews have been filled with numerous unsubstantiated claims regarding immigration. He has made statements about immigrants and crime, Vice President Kamala Harris' immigration policy record, his own immigration policy record, and how foreign countries allegedly ship their unwanted citizens to the US.
These claims range from exaggerations to outright fabrications. Here is a fact-check of at least 28 false claims he has made about immigration within the past two weeks alone, some of which he has repeated numerous times.
Harris' border role: Trump often accused Biden of making Harris the "border czar" and stating that she was in charge of the border. However, Biden never designated Harris as the "border czar," a title the White House consistently emphasizes is inaccurate. Furthermore, Biden never assigned her the responsibility of overseeing border security, which falls under the jurisdiction of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. In actuality, Biden assigned Harris a more limited immigration-related task in 2021; her role was to work on diplomatic relations with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with the objective of improving conditions that prompted people to try to migrate to the US.
Harris' border visits: Trump often declared that "she never even went there." Harris visited the border in Texas in mid-2021 and again in Arizona last month, much to the displeasure of some Republicans who criticized her for not visiting earlier. Conversely, others claimed that she did not visit frequently enough. However, the claim that Harris "never" went to the border is demonstrably false and has been for more than three years.
Harris' stance on borders: Trump frequently claimed that Harris was against the idea of the US having a border, while also stating that she admitted to wanting a border "the other day." This claim is unfounded; Harris has never stated that the US should not have a secure border, and her statements in favor of a secure border date back to before her 2019 presidential campaign. For example, she said, "We have to have a secure border. But I am in favor of saying that we are not going to treat people who are undocumented and cross the border as criminals."
Harris, migrants, and criminals: Trump made a false claim about immigrants in the US with homicide convictions, stating that the figures were specifically related to individuals who entered the country during the Biden-Harris administration. However, these statistics apply to individuals who entered the country over an extended period, including during Trump's tenure. Please refer to this source for more information.
The ICE non-detained list: Trump repeatedly asserted that "under Kamala Harris, 13,099 illegal alien convicted murderers are roaming free in the US." However, the Department of Homeland Security has clarified that this number includes individuals who are currently incarcerated in federal, state, and local institutions. You can find more information here.
A Biden immigration bill and citizenship: Trump criticized an unnamed immigration bill from the Biden administration, falsely claiming that it would immediately grant citizenship to millions of individuals. The bill Biden proposed to Congress in 2021 would have provided a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, but this process would have taken at least eight years. Trump also denounced a different bill offering citizenship to thousands of immigrants from Afghanistan who arrived in the US after the US withdrawal in 2021, but this number is significantly lower than the millions Trump claimed.
Migration and Black unemployment: Trump argued that undocumented immigrants were responsible for high unemployment rates among Black and Hispanic Americans, asserting that their unemployment figures were alarmingly high. The Black or African American unemployment rate declined to 5.7% in September 2021, which is only slightly higher than the lowest rate during Trump's presidency and lower than the pre-pandemic rate under Trump.
FEMA and migrants: Trump falsely stated that FEMA had no money left to address immigration issues, while also claiming that the funds were allocated to aid illegal immigrants entering the US. In reality, FEMA has the resources to address various crises. For additional information, please see this source.
This is inaccurate in multiple ways. FEMA does possess funds for responding to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton immediately, despite a sequence of recent disasters draining its disaster aid fund; as of Wednesday, the fund contained approximately $11 billion remaining. FEMA did not distribute all of its disaster aid funds to undocumented individuals; instead, following Congress' regulations, FEMA administers a separate pool of funds devoted to housing migrants.
An immigration chart and migration statistics: Trump consistently asserted that his preferred chart correlating migration figures at the southern border–the one he glanced at during a gunman's attack at a political rally in July–contains an arrow indicating "the day I left office," claiming it registered the lowest level of border crossings "in the history of our country."
However, this chart fails to show so. In fact, the arrow points to April 2020, when Trump still had over eight months left in his term and global migration largely halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19. After reaching a nearly three-year low (not an all-time low) in April 2020, immigration activity at the southern border gradually increased until Trump's tenure ended.
The number of immigrants: Speaking of immigration, Trump reiterated his false claim that "21 million individuals came in during the last three years." As of August, around 10.3 million immigration-related incidences had been documented across the United States under the Biden-Harris administration; this includes those rapidly expelled from the country and “gotaways,” who are estimated by House Republicans to be approximately 2 million in number, however, this still does not reach the total of 21 million.
The border wall: Trump repeated his false declaration that he constructed "571 miles of wall" on the southern border. This is a significant overstatement; government data demonstrates that 458 miles of wall were erected during Trump's administration, which includes both new wall installation and replacing existing barriers.
Trump's wall pledges: Trump made the false claim that he completed "571 miles of wall," then added another false claim, stating that before the Biden administration halted construction, he had intended to build much more than what he initially said. He claimed, "I was planning to add another 200 miles." In reality, during his 2015 and 2016 presidential campaigns, Trump consistently stated, "we need" 1,000 miles of wall; if 200 miles were added to the 458 miles constructed, or even if the 280 miles that the government claimed were planned but not yet built when Trump departed office were added, this would still fall short of the total he had previously mentioned.
Mexico and the wall: Trump, who emphasized his 2016 campaign that Mexico would fund the wall, falsely declared: "Mexico paid for it." He further expressed, "you know they gave us thousands and thousands of soldiers. They paid more."
Mexico did not pay for the border wall, which was funded entirely by US government funds; the Trump administration allocated around $16 billion for this project (though not all of it was spent). While Mexico deployed thousands of security personnel to prevent migration to the US, Mexico paying for this initiative is not the same as Mexico paying for the wall.
Immigration judges and other countries: Trump criticized the fact that asylum seekers may access the US legal process before departure, and falsely stated: "No other country has judges at the border." In reality, the US is far from being the only country allowing asylum seekers to present their cases before judges or tribunals.
James Hathaway, a law professor and Director of the Program in Refugee and Asylum Law at the University of Michigan, stated during Trump's presidency: "This is a completely false statement." "This is routine in countries, like the United States, which have signed the UN refugee treaties, for asylum-seekers to have access to their domestic legal systems to submit protection claims and be allowed to remain while doing so."
The number of US immigration judges: Trump falsely declared: "We have thousands of judges at the border." The US had 725 immigration judges nationwide as of the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year.
Trump's comments about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, "eating the pets": When asked at a Univision town hall if he truly believed in the claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were consuming other residents' pets, Trump stated: "This has been reported. I was merely reciting what was reported; that's what was reported and eating other things too, which is not supposed to happen. But this has been widely covered and reported on." He further added: "This has been in many newspapers and widely reported."
It hasn't widely been reported that immigrants in Springfield are consuming local residents' pets. In fact, no news outlet has provided solid evidence of this happening; Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, admitted after propagating such claims in September that while he had heard the allegations from his constituents, "it's plausible, of course, that all these rumors will prove to be baseless." And during the presidential debate in September, Trump stated, "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs...they're eating the cats...they're eating the pets of the people living there," without stating that he was merely reciting rumors he had heard.
The immigration standing in Springfield: Trump made a false claim, saying, "They just dumped 30,000 unauthorized aliens in Springfield, Ohio."
This is untrue in several aspects. While we can't verify the immigration status of every Haitian immigrant in Springfield, the community as a whole is, generally, in the country legally. The Springfield city website states, "Yes, Haitian immigrants are here lawfully, under the Immigration Parole Program. Once here, immigrants are then eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)." Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wrote in a New York Times op-ed about Springfield in September that the Haitian immigrants "are there legally" and that, as a Trump-Vance supporter, he is "disappointed" by the candidates' disparagement of "the lawful migrants living in Springfield."
Secondly, no one "dropped" the immigrants in Springfield; the city's Haitian residents did not relocate there through a government resettlement program. Instead, they chose to move to the city due to job opportunities, affordable housing, and the presence of a Haitian community, among other factors.
And while there's no official count of immigrants in Springfield, Trump's "30,000" figure exceeds local estimates. The city of Springfield's website states there are around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants in the county, with a total population of roughly 138,000. Chris Cook, the county's health commissioner, said in July that his team estimated the most accurate number to be 10,000 to 12,000 Haitian residents in the county.
Additional insights on immigrants in Springfield: Trump claimed that immigrants in Springfield were on "probation," adding, "Probation is for criminals." This is false in two ways.
First, Trump misused terms. Many Haitians entered the country under a Biden-Harris administration parole program, not "probation," that allows vetted participants with US sponsors temporary entry to the US. While the term "parole" is often associated with criminal prisoners released under certain conditions, in immigration policy, "parole" does not indicate that someone was once imprisoned or ever served a prison term.
Rather, as the federal government explains on its website, "The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) permits the secretary of homeland security to use their discretion to parole any noncitizen seeking temporary admission into the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." The government has used parole authority in the past to provide entry to certain individuals fleeing crises in countries like Cuba, Vietnam, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lebanon, and others.
Venezuela, prisons, and migration: Trump falsely claimed, "In Venezuela, many nations are emptying their prisons and shipping their prisoners into our country." This is false. Trump has not substantiated this claim about Venezuela, nor any other country, and experts have informed CNN, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org that they have no evidence to support it.
“We have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying its prisons or mental health institutions and sending them outside the country, that is, to the U.S. or any other country,” Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, an independent organization that tracks violence in Venezuela, stated in an email to CNN in June, following Trump's similar claims.
Venezuela and migrant buses: Trump made another exaggerated claim about Venezuela, saying, "They put the criminal gangs from Caracas off the streets and bus them into the United States and release them." There is no evidence of Venezuelan authorities somehow busing gang members into the U.S.
Migrants and "the Congo": Trump repeated his false claim that "a massive number" of migrants were "released from jails in the Congo," saying this was because foreign countries were intentionally "releasing their prison populations into our country." Trump and his campaign have never presented proof for this claim about the Congo, and both the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring Republic of Congo told CNN in March that it is false. Experts on both countries also told CNN in March that they had not seen any evidence of Congolese prisons being emptied, nor any evidence of the two countries relocating ex-prisoners to the U.S. as Trump has claimed.
Global Prison Population: Trump continuously asserted an untruthful statement that "the global prison population is decreasing, with all the prisoners being transferred to our nation." However, the World Prison Population List, compiled by specialists in the UK, revealed an increase in the global prison population. From October 2021 to April 2024, the population increased from approximately 10.77 million individuals to approximately 10.99 million individuals.
"I conduct daily online searches to monitor prison activities worldwide, and there's no evidence whatsoever of any country emptying its jails and sending the inmates to the U.S.," said Helen Fair, co-author of the prison population list and a research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, in June, when Trump made a similar claim.
Migrants and Mental Health Facilities: Trump repeatedly spread false information about large numbers of migrants entering the U.S. from mental health facilities intentionally emptied by foreign governments. "They're entering the U.S., yet they're also coming from mental institutions and asylums; they're emptying out mental institutions and asylums," Trump stated. Trump's own campaign failed to validate these claims, and experts have not found any proof supporting them.
A Venezuelan Gang and Colorado: Trump falsely declared at a Colorado rally that a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua was "taking over your state," implying that Aurora had been "conquered," and promising to "liberate Colorado" if elected again once more. Although members of the gang reside in the state, they have not come close to taking control of any town or city, let alone the entire state.
In a joint statement in September, Republican Mayor of Aurora Mike Coffman, along with the conservative chair of the city council's public safety committee, stated that the gang "has not ‘taken over’ the city" and that problems associated with the gang "at a few select properties do not apply to the city as a whole or large portions of it." Coffman pointed out that the city's police department identified 10 such individuals and apprehended eight of them.
Migrants and Towns: Trump promised to "rescue every town across America that has been invaded and conquered" under Biden and Harris, adding that "they're conquering the towns." However, no U.S. town has been "conquered" by migrants.
The Word "Caravan": Trump continued to spread the false claim that he coined the word "caravan," stating, "The caravan. I made up that name too. I'm good at names." The term "caravan" came into English usage in the 16th century. Before Trump initially used it in reference to migrant groups headed to the U.S. border, it had already been utilized in the same context by several others.
Central American Countries and Deportations: Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claim that Latin American countries, such as Honduras, refused to let the U.S. deport criminals under President Barack Obama, even denying landing rights for deportation flights. In 2016, during Obama's final calendar year in office, none of those countries were classified as "uncooperative" (recalcitrant) by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when it came to accepting the return of their citizens from the U.S. Instead, in the 2016 fiscal year, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively, in terms of the country of origin for the individuals being removed from the U.S.
Harris and "Missing" Children: Trump falsely declared that Harris "lost 325,000 migrant children" and asserted that "most of them are dead, in my opinion." There is no basis for Trump's claim that even "most" of those children are deceased – or that Harris was responsible for all of them. Trump appears to have been referencing an August report from the Homeland Security Department's Office of Inspector General, which reported that ICE missed scheduled hearings for more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children between fiscal years 2019 and 2023. The report also mentioned that over 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children did not receive court notifications during this period. The report stated that ICE had no guarantee that these children were safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor. However, it did not definitively assert that any of them were being exploited – let alone that the majority of them are deceased, a claim experts say is incorrect.
According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, he clarified to CNN this summer that there isn't actually 320,000 missing kids as claimed. Instead, the number is 32,000 children who missed their court appearances. However, missing court doesn't necessarily mean they're gone. Some kids might not show up due to their sponsors not bringing them, or perhaps they're teenagers who simply didn't want to attend. The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the OIG reveal instances where ICE failed to file necessary paperwork to initiate immigration court proceedings for these individuals.
- The ongoing discourse in American politics has been dominated by numerous immigration-related claims, with Trump repeatedly making unverified statements about Vice President Kamala Harris' immigration policy and his own previous record.
- In the realm of politics, Trump has been known for making assertions about border security, immigrant crime, and foreign countries allegedly shipping unwanted citizens to the US. These claims have often been met with fact-checking and clarifications, such as the misconception that Harris held the title of "border czar" or was solely responsible for handling border issues.
