Former President Donald Trump has once again used immigration as one of the main axes of his political discourse. However, several of his claims about immigrants and the border are not supported by the data. Below, we break down some of his most controversial statements and what the facts say.
False: Trump claims illegal immigration “destroyed” Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio
In his speech, Trump stated:
“Joe Biden didn't just open our borders. He flew illegals right over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals, and communities across the country. Entire cities like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, collapsed under the weight of migrant occupation and corruption like never seen before. Beautiful cities destroyed.”
This statement is
false.Aurora and Springfield have been repeatedly mentioned by Trump as examples of cities supposedly “invaded” by immigrants. However, he presented no concrete evidence in his speech and, in fact, has used false claims about these places in the past.
For example, last year during a debate, Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating dogs and other pets. This story was debunked: the culprit was actually a non-migrant woman in a nearby town.
As for Aurora, Trump has promoted the idea that the city was taken over by the Venezuelan gang
Tren de Aragua, based on a viral social media video. However, local police debunked the claim and the Republican mayor himself, Mike Coffman, described Trump's statements as “inaccurate.”.
Misleading: Trump says many recent immigrants are criminals
Trump stated:
“Over the last four years, 21 million people entered the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals from the streets of the world's most dangerous cities due to Joe Biden's open border policies.”
This statement is
deceptive.According to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Biden administration recorded approximately
14 million encounters with migrants at ports of entry and the U.S. border over the past four years.
Of that figure,
only 118,000 migrants had a criminal record registered in the U.S. or in their home countries. This represents
less than 1% of the total number of encounters with migrants.
While cases of migrants with criminal records in their countries of origin have been reported, there is no evidence that this is a widespread trend. Furthermore, immigration authorities have acknowledged the difficulties of obtaining criminal records from some countries before migrants cross the border.
Despite this, Trump has used isolated cases, such as the murder of nursing student Laken Riley by a Venezuelan migrant, to suggest that criminality among immigrants is a massive problem, when the data indicates otherwise.
Questionable: Trump says that under his watch there were the lowest number of illegal crossings in history
Trump stated:
“Since taking office, my administration launched the most aggressive immigration offensive in history, and we quickly achieved the lowest number of illegal crossings ever recorded.”
This statement appears to be
partially true, but it is necessary to analyze the details.
Trump did not specify whether he was referring to border crossings, encounters, or arrests. However, according to CBP data between
2000 and 2019, the month with
lowest number of illegal crossings was
April 2017, with
11,677 arrests at the southern border.
Furthermore, recent CBP data indicate that between
21st and 31st of January 2025, border apprehensions in the south decreased by
an 85% compared to the same period in 2024.
While these figures support Trump's claim, it is important to remember that fluctuations in border crossings depend on multiple factors, including the economic and political conditions of the migrants' countries of origin.
Conclusion
Trump's address to Congress was filled with exaggerated or misleading claims about immigration. Although some of his figures have a basis in reality, the way he presents them distorts the truth. Data shows that criminality among immigrants is not as high as he suggests, and that migrant-related violence cases are the exception, not the rule.
Trump's narrative seeks to generate fear and justify extreme measures against immigrants. It is important to contrast his statements with facts and real data before accepting them as truth.
