Rep. Steve King attracted attention — and criticism from Republican leaders — for saying of immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children: “For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Sen. Ted Cruz says there will be “20 or 30 million” people living in the U.S. illegally “in another 10, 20 years” if the Senate immigration bill becomes law. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill, if enacted, will reduce future illegal immigration by 33 percent to 50 percent compared with current law.
Eliot Spitzer falsely claimed that allowing immigrants living in the United States illegally to obtain driver’s licenses — a policy he attempted to implement as governor of New York in 2007 — is now the “law of the land.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann ginned up a bogus doomsday scenario for Republicans in 2014, falsely warning that President Obama would “wave his magic wand” to grant voting rights to newly legalized immigrants if Congress passes an immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship.
Rep. Raul Labrador misrepresented key elements of the Senate immigration bill during a July 7 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Two senators opposed to the Gang of Eight immigration bill are telling only half the story with their claims that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned the bill would be bad for wages and unemployment.
A TV ad opposing the Senate immigration bill uses inflated numbers in an oversimplified, one-sided appeal to fears about job security.
Critics of a bipartisan Senate bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration system falsely claim that it will cost an additional $6.3 trillion, citing a study by a conservative group that opposes the bill.
Lawmakers on both sides of the immigration debate have falsely claimed that “some” or “all” of the 9/11 hijackers were in the U.S. on student visas. Only one of the 19 hijackers came to the U.S. on a student visa. The rest arrived here on tourist or business visas.
A group with ties to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hijacks the credibility of news organizations in a misleading ad that supports a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill. The ad attributes several quotes to media outlets, but the quotes come from opinion pieces written by backers of the immigration bill.