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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

FactChecking the Hofstra Debate

FactChecking the Hofstra Debate

The second Obama-Romney debate was heated, confrontational and full of claims that sometimes didn’t match the facts. Obama challenged Romney to “get the transcript” when Romney questioned the president’s claim to have spoken of an “act of terror” …

Romney’s Immigration Exaggeration

Romney’s Immigration Exaggeration

Mitt Romney exaggerates when he says President Obama “did nothing on immigration” for three and a half years, even when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Obama supported and lobbied for the DREAM Act, which would have created a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The bill passed the House in December 2010, but failed in the Senate largely because of Republican opposition.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive Republican presidential nominee,

Immigration Inflation

Immigration Inflation

An ad running in San Diego and on MSNBC claims immigration will cause a rise in U.S. population equal to that of the American West within 30 years. That’s not true. The increase is projected to be substantial, but nowhere near that high, even counting the children and grandchildren of newly arriving immigrants, legal or illegal.
A group called Californians for Population Stabilization began running the ad April 17, pegging it to Earth Day, which is April 22.

Flipping Through DNC Playbook on Romney

Flipping Through DNC Playbook on Romney

The Democratic National Committee casts Mitt Romney as an untrustworthy flip-flopper in a lengthy Web video, but pads a long list of examples with some falsehoods and distortions. It’s true that Romney has changed or modified his position on some major issues — including abortion, a federal assault weapons ban and Reaganomics, as the DNC says. But the video strains the truth …

Romney v. Perry in a YouTube Slugfest

Romney v. Perry in a YouTube Slugfest

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are hammering each other with dueling — and distorted — YouTube ads. Romney’s ad says “unemployment has doubled on Perry’s watch” as Texas governor. That’s true. But it’s also true that Texas has bucked the national trend and now has a lower jobless rate …

Romney’s ‘Magnet’ Charge Attracts Scrutiny

Romney’s ‘Magnet’ Charge Attracts Scrutiny

Mitt Romney claims that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s support for an in-state tuition program has acted as a “magnet” to draw illegal immigrants to Texas. But there is strong evidence to the contrary.
Romney, GOP debate, Oct. 18: You put in place a magnet to draw illegals into the state, which was giving $100,000 of tuition credit to illegals that come into this country, and then you have states — the big states of illegal immigrants are California and Florida.

CNN/Tea Party Debate

CNN/Tea Party Debate

The GOP presidential candidates debated for the second time in six days — tossing out a variety of false and misleading claims on everything from Social Security to vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases. …

Did Obama ‘Enact’ DREAM Act?

Q: Did President Obama “enact” the DREAM Act by executive order to give “amnesty” to 20 million illegal immigrants?
A: No. But the administration in 2011 adopted a policy of giving “particular care” before deporting students, military veterans and others deemed to be low risk. In 2011, it issued a new policy to allow certain illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to apply for two-year work permits.

Sunday Replay

On this week’s political talk shows, we found false and questionable statements about Rand Paul, unemployment and then-Sen. Obama’s impact on immigration legislation.
Paul Didn’t Go That Far

On CBS’ "Face the Nation," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine twisted the words of Rand Paul, the Republican nominee for Senate in Kentucky. Kaine claimed that Paul, a tea party member, "says the Civil Rights Act shouldn’t have been passed." That’s not true.
Paul did kick up a controversy when he told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that while he personally did not agree with discriminatory practices,

Hayworth Distorts McCain’s Immigration Record — Again

In his second TV ad, Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth continues to distort Arizona Sen. John McCain’s record on immigration policy.

McCain ‘Made It Worse’?
The ad, which started to air July 29, opens with an announcer saying: "The illegal alien invasion, and John McCain made it worse." In rapid fire, the ad lists a few of the ways McCain supposedly made things worse, beginning with: "McCain wrote the amnesty bill." The words "Wrote the amnesty bill"