Connect the Dots 101

Time Magazine gave Donald Trump something it has never done for a Person of the Year designee: a lengthy fact-check of claims he made in an accompanying interview.

https://apnews.com/article/time-trump-fact-check-3e1c54007f0486ac64f146948f7c4376

• What Trump Said: “I was saying it could be 21 million people….

The Facts: Trump was referring to how the undocumented population has grown under President Biden. There are an estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States as of July 2023….International and domestic laws require the U.S. to offer asylum to those who fear persecution in their country of origin; asylum seekers must prove their life or liberty is at risk, usually through interviews and in immigration court,…

• What Trump Said: “The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there’s something causing it.”

The Facts: Trump made this comment while discussing vaccines. But much of the increase, research suggests, stems from changes to diagnostic criteria, widespread awareness of the condition, and improvements in screening. Detection jumps have been particularly steep among children of color, girls, and young adults, all of whom have historically been diagnosed less frequently. The false claim that there’s a link between vaccines and autism traces back to a retracted study from the 1990s. Even though that study has been widely debunked and refuted, and modern studies continue to consistently show that shots are safe, the idea that vaccines are linked to autism persists, without evidence, among some vaccine skeptics.

• What Trump Said: “Look, if you look at the 13,000 plus, 13,099 which was issued by border patrol, they said those people were murderers, and they allowed them into our country.” 

The Facts: A DHS spokesperson told CNN that the 13,099 figure “includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.” Additionally, she said, “the data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more.” 

• What Trump Said: “It wasn’t my policy. It was Obama’s policy. I didn’t build the jail cells for children. He did. If you look at the 2014.”

The Facts: Trump was responding to a question about his border policy in 2017 and 2018 of separating children from parents or guardians with whom they arrived. The Obama Administration did hold undocumented migrants in detention facilities, though it did not systematically separate families.

• What Trump Said: “By the way, when you talk about separation, we have 325,000 children here during Democrats. And this was done by Democrats who are right now slaves, sex slaves or dead, and they were allowed.” (sic)

The Facts: There is no evidence that 325,000 immigrant children are slaves, sex slaves, or dead. These numbers likely refer to an August 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General stating that the government failed to “monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children” after they were released from government custody. …That report covered a period from October 2018 to September 2023, which includes more than half of Trump’s first term….Experts say this doesn’t necessarily mean the children are “missing” or exploited. Rather, this is likely a bureaucratic failing. 

• What Trump Said: “Why is it that in Portland and in many other places, Minneapolis—Why is it that nothing happened with them and they actually caused death and destruction at levels not seen before? So you know, if you take a look at what happened in Seattle, you had people die, you had a lot of death, and nothing happened, and these people [January 6th insurrectionists] have been treated really, really badly.”

https://time.com/7201574/person-of-the-year-2024-donald-trump-fact-check/