Q: Is it accurate that “18 children died while in custody of Border Patrol” during the Obama administration?
A: No. Prior to two children’s deaths in December, it had been more than a decade since a child died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
This video from CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org explains how Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen distorted the facts when she tweeted that the Trump administration does “not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.”
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.
Q: Did President Donald Trump have the leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities” arrested?
A: No. Federal officials have discussed reviewing whether charges can be brought, but there have been no such arrests.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said monthly border apprehensions have returned to “previous levels” since dropping significantly after President Donald Trump took office. We look at the long-term statistics.
What exactly did President Donald Trump say at a Jan. 11 White House meeting on immigration? Five members of Congress and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security have made public statements about the meeting. Here’s what each of them has said so far.