Attorney General Jeff Sessions now says that the administration “never really intended” to separate families as part of its zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration. But Sessions had previously acknowledged that that’s what would happen under this policy.
During the ongoing family-separation controversy, President Donald Trump and others have made false or misleading statements on several immigration issues.
In defending its “zero tolerance” border policy that has caused the separation of families, the Trump administration has argued that the Obama and Bush administrations did this too. That’s misleading. Experts say there were some separations under previous administrations, but no blanket policy to prosecute parents and, therefore, separate them from their children.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has resorted to a rhetorical sleight of hand in recent days to defend the Trump administration’s policy of separating families that illegally cross the border.
The controversy surrounding family separations at the U.S. Southern border has prompted outrage, opinions and finger-pointing. It has also raised a number of questions, including from our readers. We answer those questions here.
President Donald Trump said he thinks former FBI Director James Comey committed “very criminal acts.” But the facts don’t support the president’s opinion. Trump also claimed the inspector general’s report “totally exonerates” him, but the report didn’t evaluate the Russia investigation.
In this week’s video, CNN’s Jake Tapper reviews President Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. trade deficit with Canada is “close to $100 billion a year.” It’s not.
The official U.S. statistics on trade with Canada show that the United States has a trade surplus with our neighbor to the north. The U.S. surplus was $2.8 billion in 2017, according to the Census Bureau. Yet, President Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. has “close to $100 billion a year loss with Canada” or $17 billion “minimum.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders claims that “the average American worker today, despite the strong economy, is not getting ahead.” Not so. Hourly wages have been rising faster than inflation for years, and that trend has continued under President Donald Trump.
In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper reviews President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that construction has begun on his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.