By Cody Lillich, Jason Sillman and AZFamily Digital News Staff
Published: Jun. 6, 2024 at 3:10 PM MST|Updated: Jun. 6, 2024 at 8:50 PM MST
PHOENIX (AZFamily)— Arizona’s Family is committed to holding all politicians, regardless of party, accountable during and after elections. Our Investigates team is fact-checking statements made by former President Donald Trump during his rally in north Phoenix on Thursday.
11 taken to hospital for heat-related illness at Trump town hall in Phoenix
President Trump:
“Biden’s action this week establishes an annual MINIMUM of approximately TWO MILLION illegal alien border crossers every single year, not including the millions that will continue to pour through as got-aways.”
Fact Check:
The new executive order sets a minimum number for average daily encounters at 2,500/day over a 7-day period when restrictions take effect. If that’s what he’s referring to here – 2,500/day would be 912,500 (not two million.).
President Trump:
“Less than 4 years ago, I handed Joe Biden the strongest, most secure border in U.S. history. We built 571 miles of Border Wall. We ended ALL catch-and-release. We shut down asylum fraud. We had Remain in Mexico, Safe Third Agreements, and Title 42. And we brought illegal immigration to the lowest level on record.”
Fact Check:
There were higher numbers during earlier years of the Trump administration and even lower numbers during Obama (FY 2011 - 327,577 | FY 2012 - 356,873 | FY 2015-331,333). Source: CBP Historical Data
According to Politifact, Trump has wavered on how much wall he has built. In a July 2023 rally, he said he built “nearly 500 miles” of wall. Trump’s administration built 52 miles of new primary border barriers—the first impediment people encounter if they’re trying to cross the southern border with Mexico—that can block access either for people on foot or for vehicles—where there were none before.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that the administration built 458 miles of primary and secondary border barriers. The majority were replacements for smaller, dilapidated barriers. There were lower numbers during the Obama administration (FY 2011 - 327,577 | FY 2012 - 356,873 | FY 2015-331,333) Source: CBP Historical Data
President Trump:
“In April, border crossings were up 1,000% compared to the same month my last year in office.”
Fact Check:
Joe Biden administration April 2024 - 179,725 | Donald Trump administration April 2020* - 16,182
Source: CBP Data
*April 2020 was one month into the COVID-19 pandemic when most of the world enacted stay-indoors orders.
President Trump:
“Crooked Joe has imported more illegal aliens than the populations of 40 out of 50 states. This is UNSUSTAINABLE.”
Fact Check:
According to CBP data, border encounters during the Biden Administration have been 7.36 Million since Jan 2021.
According to U.S. Census estimates, that is larger than 37 of 50 states.
During the four fiscal years of the Trump Administration, numbers were approximately 1.9 Million
President Trump:
“Under Biden, the world is emptying out their prisons, insane asylums, and mental institutions—and sending us their most vicious criminals, savage gang members, and sad*stic cartels.”
Fact Check:
There is no factual basis to this statement, according to a CNN Fact Check
President Trump:
“In Venezuela, violent crime is down 67%.”
Fact Check:
This has been exaggerated, as described by PolitiFact.
Available data shows crime in Venezuela has dropped, but not by 67%
It’s difficult to track crime statistics in Venezuela because its government doesn’t publish reliable data, said Mike LaSusa, deputy director of content at InSight Crime, a think tank focused on crime and security in the Americas.
EFE, a Spanish-language news agency, reported that Venezuela’s government hasn’t published the numbers of murders or robberies in 10 years.
Trump did not provide PolitiFact with evidence of Venezuela’s 67% crime drop and didn’t clarify what type of crime he meant. But LaSusa said available data does not support Trump’s claim.
“Independent assessments, including our own observations, don’t support the notion that crime has dropped by 67%,” LaSusa said. LaSusa also pointed to a recent press conference during which Venezuelan security official Remigio Ceballos Ichaso said crime had dropped by 32% in 2024 compared with 2023. The press statement from Venezuela’s Ministry of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace did not specify what kind of crime that figure included.
Data from the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a Venezuela-based independent nonprofit that LaSusa said he trusts, also doesn’t support Trump’s claim.
There hasn’t been a 67% drop in the past few years, the group’s founder and director, Roberto Briceño Leon, told PolitiFact from Venezuela. The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence’s numbers show a 25% drop in violent deaths from 2022 to 2023, including homicides, deaths resulting from police intervention, and deaths under investigation.
Despite that drop, the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence notes the national rate is still high compared with other countries in the region. In 2023, Venezuela had a rate of 26.8 violent deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence. Mexico had a rate of 12 homicides per 100,000 people in the first half of 2023, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. The U.S., in 2022, had a rate of 6.8 homicides per 100,000 people.
Former President Trump also later said at the Turning Point event their crime was down 72%
President Trump:
“Arizona is being turned into a dumping ground for the dungeons of the Third World.... Just this week, two brave officers of the New York Police Department were SHOT in Queens by a Biden Migrant who Crooked Joe RELEASED into our country.”
Fact Check:
According to CBS News New York, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, from Venezuela, entered from Texas, not Arizona.
President Trump:
“If Joe Biden wins this election, he wants to turn every single illegal alien that he let in across the border into a voting citizen. I believe this is the only reason this is happening…”
Fact Check:
According to Politifact “Trump provided no evidence for this scheme. Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, and proven incidents of noncitizens casting ballots are rare. Even immigrants who arrive now and apply for citizenship won’t be able to vote for more than a decade because of the lengthy citizenship process.”
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