Republicans wrapped up day two of the Republican National Convention by attacking President Joe Biden‘s record on immigration and border security, and uniting around former President Donald Trump.
Speakers on the second day of the RNC made several bold claims on immigration. Among the most eye-catching was the suggestion that 11.5 million people have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally during Biden’s watch. Newsweek has fact-checked this and four other claims made about immigration to the U.S.
Ted Cruz suggests that 11.5 million illegal migrants have crossed the Southern border
Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican Senator, told those gathered: “There’s an invasion on our southern border. A literal invasion: 11.5 million people have crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden.”
The remark appears to be misleading, as U.S. Customs and Border Protection have reported about 8.1 million encounters with migrants at the southern border since Biden’s inauguration. Official figures show about 10 million “migrant encounters” nationwide.
The picture is further complicated by the difference between “encounters” and individual migrants some migrants cross the border multiple times, encountering authorities on each occasion.
Biden has partially shut down asylum processing along the border, and he has embraced restrictive border policies amid a growing appetite for migration controls among both Democrat and Republican voters.
Joe Biden has ‘opened’ the border ‘to the entire world’
Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana said: “On the border, Biden and Harris opened it up to the entire world.”
The reality is more nuanced. The Biden administration recently implemented sweeping restrictions on asylum at the US-Mexico border, with legislation to prohibit migrants from entering the country illegally and to stop border posts becoming overwhelmed. The administration also kept in place a key Trump policy that gave border agents the power to turn back migrants quickly.
It is true that migrants have crossed the border at record levels under Biden’s leadership; however, in recent months, the numbers have fallen. About 84,000 migrants crossed the southern border unlawfully in June, according to official data. That is the lowest monthly level since Biden assumed the presidency in January 2021.
Matt Rourke/AP
Biden opened border to ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists’
Eric Hovde, the Republican running for Senate in Wisconsin, claimed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “opened” the southern border to “criminals and terrorists.”
There have been high-profile cases of illegal migrants who have been charged with serious crimes, including the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray and the high-profile killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
However, Biden has never supported an open border policy
While he has reversed some immigration policies from the Trump administration, such as a policy that forced migrants to await their asylum hearings in Mexico, he has enforced other restrictive border policies that limit asylum processing and mirror some legislation enacted by Trump.
Paul Sancya/AP
The Biden administration has conducted over 4 million deportations and expulsions since 2021, according to data gathered by the Department of Homeland Security.
Eric Hovde exaggerates the number of fentanyl deaths
In the same speech the Wisconsin Senate candidate further claimed that Biden’s “open border” policy has “emboldened drug cartels to flood our streets with fentanyl, killing over 100,000 Americans every year.”
Eric Hovde’s statement appears to be inaccurate. While US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in May that an estimated 107,500 people in the US died from an overdose, this figure covered all types of drugs. The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2023, including fentanyl, was approximately 75,000, according to official data.
Kari Lake claims opponent voted to allow undocumented immigrants to take cast a ballot
Kari Lake said Tuesday that Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, her likely opponent in the state’s US Senate race this fall, voted last week to let undocumented immigrants “illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.”
Lake said: “Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.” It has been illegal for noncitizens to vote in elections since 1996.
Gallego did vote against a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. However, when Gallego voted against the bill, he said “only U.S. citizens should vote.”
Gallego argued the bill would create obstacles for Arizonans to vote because of the requirements to provide proof of citizenship.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.