False claim of ‘security crisis’ at US border
Trump paints misleading picture during address to the nation
WASHINGTON: The first misleading statement in President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address yesterday came in the first sentence.
Trump, addressing a national television audience from behind his desk, warned of a ‘‘security crisis at the southern border’’ — even though the number of people caught trying to cross illegally is near 20year lows.
Another false claim came moments later, when Trump said border agents ‘‘encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country’’ every day, though his Administration puts the daily average for 2018 in the hundreds.
A few sentences later, he said 90% of the heroin in the United States comes across the border with Mexico, ignoring the fact that most of the drugs come through legal entry points and would not be stopped by the border wall that he is demanding as the centrepiece of his showdown with Democrats.
Over the course of his nineminute speech, Trump painted a misleading and bleak picture of the situation at the United StatesMexico border. He pumped up some numbers, exaggerated the public safety risks of immigration and repeated false claims regarding how to fund a border wall.
The television appearance, coming as a partial federal government shutdown resulting from the wall fight entered its third week, underscored the extent to which Trump has relied on false and misleading claims to justify what has long been his signature political issue.
One false claim noticeably absent from the speech was the assertion made by the president and many of his allies in recent days that terrorists are infiltrating the country by way of the southern border. Factcheckers and TV anchors, including those on Fox News, spent days challenging the truthfulness of the claim.
Below are the truths behind Trump’s claim from the Oval Office address:
Trump: ‘‘Tonight I am speaking to you because there is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.’’
The facts: By any available measure, there is no new security crisis at the border.
Apprehensions of people trying to cross the southern border peaked most recently at 1.6 million in 2000 and have been in decline since, falling to just under 400,000 in fiscal 2018.
There are far more cases of travellers overstaying their visas than southern border apprehensions. In fiscal 2017, the Department of Homeland Security reported 606,926 suspected incountry overstays, or twice the number of southern border apprehensions. In fiscal 2016, US officials reported 408,870 southern border apprehensions and 544,676 suspected incountry overstays.
Democrats moved swiftly to condemn Trump’s address, accusing him of stoking fear and holding the country hostage.
In a brief rebuttal, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Trump end the shutdown.
Pelosi said Trump was manufacturing a crisis.
Schumer accused Trump of trying to ‘‘govern by temper tantrum’’.
‘‘President Trump has appealed to fear, not facts. Division, not unity,’’ the New York senator said, adding, ‘‘The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30foot (10m) wall.’’
After Trump’s rundown of crime by illegal immigrants, pundits on Twitter were quick to point out mass murderers and criminals are often white Americans.
Amnesty International tweeted that families fleeing violence deserve human rights.
Congressman for Ohio’s 13th District Tim Ryan tweeted that Trump was only concerned with ‘‘stoking fear in the American people’’.
US Senator for Maryland Ben Cardin said: ‘‘Let’s get back to facts and have real conversation about border security. We can start by reopening the Gov’t so we can pay border patrol, customs agents, TSA agents and others who are on the front lines,’’ he said.