Facts behind claims at rally
Trump cited economy, immigration, health care
President Donald Trump spent more than 80 minutes making a case for his reelection at a packed Phoenix rally on Wednesday evening.
Employing many of the same themes and talking points he had used in his State of the Union speech and to rile up crowds in New Hampshire and Iowa, he touted low unemployment and new jobs, boasted about improved life expectancy and mocked his Democratic opponents.
And, though it took him more than 45
minutes to get there, he condemned illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and gloated about deportation numbers, drug seizures and border wall progress.
His claims, some of them specifically geared toward an Arizona crowd, generated plenty of enthusiasm — although the “Build the wall!” chant heard at past campaign events was absent.
Here’s a closer look at what Trump said Wednesday, with analysis from Arizona Republic reporters.
Immigration On the cost of illegal immigration
What Trump said: Trump said illegal immigration costs Arizona taxpayers “more than $2 billion every year.”
The facts: Trump appeared to be referring to an outdated report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates against illegal immigration. The 2012 report estimated that unauthorized immigrants cost Arizona $2.4 billion, estimating Arizona’s 2010 undocumented population at 390,000.
That population estimate appears to be inflated, however: It’s higher than the 350,000 unauthorized immigrants the Department of Homeland Security estimated resided in Arizona in 2010 and the Pew Research Center’s estimate of 325,000.
FAIR also included in its $2.4 billion estimate costs such as K-12 education, which amounted to $1.3 billion, or 54% of the total, and the cost of limited English proficiency education, which amounted to another $279 million, or nearly 11% of the total. Those figures didn’t distinguish between children born in the U.S. (and, thus, U.S. citizens) whose parents were in the country illegally, and immigrant children who are not U.S. citizens.
FAIR also included in its estimate the $259 million cost of providing Medicaid to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, who, again, are citizens.
Arizona’s undocumented population has decreased considerably in both number and share since 2010, according to estimates by Pew, which means the costs of illegal immigration to Arizona taxpayers has also likely fallen.
On an Arizona murder
What Trump said: “Democrats’ open borders policies are harming and killing innocent lives,” Trump said, citing a Phoenix case where “an illegal alien chased a man through a parking lot and shot him in cold blood, and then walked over to the victim and shot him four more times right in the face as he lay dying in the street.” Trump said the shooter “had previously been deported after serving six years in prison.”
The facts: Trump was referring to 26-year-old Victor Garcia, an unauthorized immigrant who was charged with shooting 34-year-old Jesus Valazquez last year. Garcia had served six years in an Arizona prison after being convicted of aggravated assault in 2011, and had previously been deported.
According to court documents, Garcia had a handgun and fired several shots at Valazquez, who fell to the ground shortly after being struck. Multiple witnesses saw Garcia approach Valazquez and shoot him three or four times in the face while he was still on the ground.
The border On illegal border crossings
What Trump said: Trump said his administration had “reduced illegal border crossings for eight straight months in a row.” He said illegal crossings are down 75% since last spring, and January “saw the fewest illegal crossings in two years.”
The facts: Since reaching a peak of 132,856 border apprehensions in May 2019, the number of migrants agents encountered along the U.S.-Mexico border has continued to decrease significantly, according to Customs and Border Protection, the agency responsible for patrolling the nation’s borders.
In January, agents apprehended 29,200 migrants along the border, a 78% decrease compared with May’s peak. It’s also the fewest number of migrants detained at the border since February 2018, when agents apprehended 26,666 people.
The pressure Trump exerted on the Mexican government this past summer to stop Central Americans traveling through the country on the way to the U.S. to claim asylum was a key factor in the drop. Mexico deployed its National Guard and has vastly increased the number of Central American migrants it apprehends and deports.
The Trump administration also implemented policies restricting access to asylum for Latin American migrants. In January 2019, the Department of Homeland Security rolled out its Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as “Remain in Mexico.” More than 60,000 people have been sent back to await the outcome of their proceedings.