Former President Donald Trump has once again placed immigration at the center of his political rhetoric. However, many of his claims about immigrants and the border do not align with the facts. Here, we break down some of his most controversial statements and what the data actually says.

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 illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals, and communities throughout the country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like nobody has ever seen before. Beautiful towns destroyed.”

This statement is false.

Aurora and Springfield have frequently been cited by Trump as examples of cities supposedly “overrun” by migrants. However, he provided no specific evidence in his speech, and he has made false claims about these cities in the past.

For example, last year during a debate, Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating dogs and other pets. The truth? The incident actually involved a non-migrant woman in a nearby town.

Regarding Aurora, Trump has promoted the idea that the city was taken over by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, citing a viral social media video. However, local police refuted this claim, and even Aurora’s Republican mayor, Mike Coffman, called Trump’s statements “not accurate.”

Misleading: Trump Says Many Recent Migrants Are Criminals

Trump claimed:

“Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into 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 insane and very dangerous open border policies.”

This statement is misleading.

➡️ According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, the Biden administration recorded approximately 14 million migrant encounters at ports of entry and the U.S. border over the past four years.

➡️ Of those, only 118,000 migrants had criminal records in either the U.S. or their home countries. That represents less than 1% of all migrant encounters.

While some migrants have criminal backgrounds, there is no evidence that widespread migrant crime is an issue. Immigration officials have also long acknowledged the challenges of obtaining criminal records from certain countries before migrants enter the U.S.

📢 Why does Trump say this? He often highlights isolated cases, such as the killing of nursing student Laken Riley by a Venezuelan migrant, to suggest that migrant crime is a massive problem. However, the data does not support this narrative.

Questionable: Trump Claims He Achieved the Lowest Number of Illegal Border Crossings in History

Trump stated:

“Since taking office, my administration launched the most aggressive immigration crackdown in history, and we quickly achieved the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded.”

This statement is partially true, but requires context.

Trump did not specify whether he was referring to border crossings, encounters, or apprehensions. However, according to CBP data from 2000 to 2019, the month with the lowest number of illegal crossings was April 2017, with 11,677 apprehensions at the southern border.

Additionally, CBP data from January 2025 indicates that between January 21-31, 2025, apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped 85% compared to the same period in 2024.

While these numbers appear to support Trump’s claim, it’s crucial to note that border crossing trends are influenced by multiple factors, including economic and political conditions in migrants’ home countries—not just U.S. immigration policies.

Trump’s speech to Congress was filled with exaggerated or misleading claims about immigration. While some of his statistics have a basis in reality, the way he presents them distorts the truth. The data shows that immigrant crime is not as rampant as he suggests, and that violence linked to migrants is the exception, not the rule.

Trump’s narrative is designed to instill fear and justify extreme measures against immigrants. It is essential to fact-check his statements and rely on real data before accepting them as truth.