‘Just completely false’: Donald Trump spouts misinformation over immigrants and murder rates
Incoming president Donald Trump is reinforcing his belief that thousands of violent, undocumented migrants are currently free to roam in the United States. Not only is this claim false, it’s also sourced from data that has been misconstrued.
During his NBC News Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker, Trump talked about his mass deportation agenda. Trump claimed, “We have 13,099 murderers released into our country over the last three years. They’re walking down the streets. They’re walking down next to you and your family.” Trump painted a fearful scene, but Welker immediately corrected him. “The 13,000 figure, I think, goes back 40 years.” Trump unrelentingly asserted that this happened within President Joe Biden’s four-year term. Trump further claimed that this figure was produced by the border patrol.
Social media users were appalled by Trump’s claims. One wrote on X, “Just completely false. The words of a man who has absolutely no clue and who doesn’t care that he has no clue.”
A misused statistic
Trump made people imagine that there are 13,099 murderous migrants on the loose. Per his description, some of these migrants have “killed more than one person.” What Trump failed to mention was that an overwhelming number of these migrants are currently serving time in federal prison. “Non-detained” simply means that these migrants are not held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. Additionally, data on the 13,000 migrants spans four decades, just as Welker claimed.
Nevertheless, Trump intends to pursue mass deportations. Welker asked him again, “Is it realistic to deport everyone who is here illegally?” She cited that Trump would need more manpower and planes just to deport one million people per year. The practical aspect of Welker’s question doesn’t faze Trump, since he’s convinced that undocumented migrants are a leading cause of violent crimes.
According to the National Institute of Justice, the violent crime and property crime offending rates for undocumented migrants were lower than for US-born citizens. Despite this, data also suggests that many Americans believe that immigration increases crime. There is a gap between perception and reality, and Trump’s deportation plan strategically plays with that blindspot.
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