Last week, we fact checked the Trump re-election campaign’s television ad lie that he has “cut illegal immigration in half.” As we noted, the ad compares the Trump record to the Trump record (comparing May 2019 numbers to September 2019 numbers), while relying on the less-than-neutral arbiters of Fox News and Trump acolyte and nativist true believer Ken Cuccinelli as the supposed credible sourcing. To read the Spanish-language version of America’s Voice article on Trump’s real record on immigration, please click here.
The lie in the TV ad is a preview of what we can expect in the months ahead from Trump and his campaign – attempts to cover up and explain away their failed immigration and border record and resultant chaos and cruelty through ridiculous spin and flat-out lies. As we reach one year before the 2020 election, America’s Voice decided offer up our own assessment of the real Trump immigration and border record, “by the numbers”:
- 5,400+: children separated from their families at the border, a number that keeps rising as the Trump Administration periodically admits to separating more children than previously known.
- 7: number of children who have died in CBP detention, after not immediately being treated for symptoms or for being held for extended periods of time.
- 29: number of adults who have died in ICE custody during the Trump Administration.
- 660,880: number of active DACA recipients as of June 2019, a declining number since Trump’s 2017 attempt to end DACA means that no new applicants can obtain status.
- 318,160: approximate total number of TPS holders in the US, who would be in danger of deportation if TPS is ended.
- 18,000: The Administration set a ceiling of just 18,000 refugees in 2020. In comparison, 85,000 refugees were admitted in FY 2016 alone.
- $3.6 billion: dollars Trump is diverting from military projects in order to build his border wall.
- $21.6 billion: total cost of border wall, as estimated by a 2017 internal Department of Homeland Security report, though other estimates are as high as $60 billion.
- 75%: a record-high percentage of Americans who think immigration is a good thing, according to a 2018 Gallup poll; this number has been steadily rising throughout Trump’s presidency.
- 60%: percentage of Americans who disapprove of Trump’s job performance on immigration; 38% approve.
