Listen to this note:
130 days before the presidential elections in the United States take place, tempers are high, a situation that was reflected during the first debate between the Democrat and current president, Joseph Biden, and the Republican and former president, Donald Trump, the latter pointing out and pointing out the poor management of the current administration in immigration matters, for which he resorted to lies.
This Thursday a presidential debate was held between both presidential candidates, an unprecedented event so long before the elections, and before both the Democratic and Republican conventions took place, so the exhibition hot topics such as immigration was one of the critical points of the night.
Among all the bickering, Trump accused Biden of allowing millions of unauthorized immigrants to enter the country, arguing that the country's southern border is open.
Here are three fact checks of claims made during the debate related to immigration:
“He decided to open our border, open our country,” Trump said of Biden during the debate.
The statement is not accurate because, although it is true that so far in the Biden administration, unauthorized crossings have reached a record number, the border is not “open.” In fact, it could be said that it is more reinforced than ever.
The federal government has added more sections to the walls of the southern border, while military operations have increased in various areas of the area, in addition to the fact that the number of expedited expulsions has grown.
It should be noted that a large majority of Republican legislators have not allowed a $118 billion border agreement to be carried out in the Senate. This bill would have granted the US Executive the power to close the border with Mexico to asylum seekers when the daily average of illegal crossings exceeded 5,000 crossings.
Trump also claimed that immigrants are committing crimes, calling it "immigration crime." It is true that there are cases of people who entered the country illegally and have committed serious crimes, however, data shows that the vast majority do not commit crimes, and there are even Northwestern University study which examines a 150-year period and found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the US.
In that sense, the Republican argued that immigrants come to the American union illegally from "mental institutions" and "madhouses."
In the debate held on the CNN television network, Trump assured that immigrants who arrive in the country illegally are housed in "luxury hotels" while the veterans are on the streets.
In turn, he stated that, during his administration (January 20, 2017-January 20, 2021), the country had the "most secure border in history."
“We have to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out quickly because they are destroying our country,” Trump said during the 90-minute debate held in Atlanta.
While he did not explain how he would carry out mass deportations, Trump has repeatedly said he would carry out a mass deportation campaign of undocumented immigrants using local law enforcement, the National Guard and potentially the US military.
"And because of (Biden's) ridiculous, insane and very stupid policies, people are coming and killing our citizens at a level we've never seen," Trump claimed without providing substantial evidence of this.
After moderator Jake Tapper pressed both candidates on their immigration plans, asking, “Why should voters trust you to solve this crisis?” in isolated crimes.
Given this, he reiterated his promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants if he wins a second term.
Tapper doubled down: "Does that mean they will deport all undocumented immigrants in the United States, including those who have jobs, including those whose spouses are citizens, and those who have lived here for decades?" And if so, how will they do it?
Trump not only did not answer, but he diverted the conversation towards the terrorism and crime that, according to him, immigrants bring with them.
You may be interested in: Trump's immigration plan: system that puts residents and migrants at risk
