Texas Sen. Ted Cruz became the first major Republican candidate to declare himself officially in the 2016 presidential race. In announcing his presidential ambition, Cruz repeated a number of dubious claims we have heard before, and a few we haven’t.
A parade of potential Republican presidential candidates took turns at delivering speeches and answering questions at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference that started on Feb. 26. Along the way there were some distortions of facts.
Q: Will people living in the U.S. illegally receive “amnesty bonuses” because of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration?
A: There is no automatic payment, but some working immigrants could claim up to four years of earned income tax credits if they meet eligibility requirements.
Rick Santorum touted a shocking statistic to Iowa voters: Of the “6 million net new jobs created in America” since 2000, “all of them” are held by immigrants. That’s not accurate.
There were multiple official and unofficial Republican responses to President Obama’s State of the Union address, but only a few instances of the president’s critics stretching the facts.
This FlackCheck.org video highlights misleading claims about immigration from both Democrats and Republicans.
President Barack Obama misspoke when he said that immigrants living illegally in the U.S. would have to “pay any back taxes” in order to qualify for work papers under the plan he initiated via executive action. They would not.
Rick Santorum has announced he will run again for president in 2016. This is our report on some of the false or misleading remarks he has made over the years.
Q: Did Obama’s executive actions on immigration include a $3,000 bonus to employers for each immigrant they hire instead of U.S. citizens?
A: Not exactly. In very limited cases, employers may avoid the Affordable Care Act’s penalty if they hire immigrants who are not eligible for health care subsidies. But the law bars employers from discriminating against employees based on eligibility.
President Obama exaggerated when talking about declines in illegal border crossings, and Republican Rick Santorum made a misleading claim about the foreign-born population in the United States.