President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have been pushing a total lie. Their claim: Over 3000, or, as Huckabee Sanders told Fox News Sunday, “nearly 4000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border.”

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STEVE SCALISE repeats claim that “Over 3,700 known or suspected terrorists tried to enter” the US in 2017. The State Dept. says there is “no credible information that any member of a terrorist group has traveled through Mexico to gain access to the US.”https://t.co/buF0Vs4Dsl — JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) January 4, 2019

The claim that 4000, or nearly 4000 terrorists, or suspected terrorists, were captured at the southern border is a total lie.

The goal: $5.7 billion so Trump can fulfill a campaign promise to build his wall. (The $5.7 billion is only a downpayment.)

And now, thanks to NBC News’ Julia Ainsley, we can prove it’s a total lie.

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“U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered only six immigrants on the U.S-Mexico border in the first half of fiscal year 2018 whose names were on a federal government list of known or suspected terrorists, according to CBP data as of May 2018 obtained by NBC News,” she reports.

When confronted with this fact, that just six people were confronted (NBC doesn’t even say arrested, just approached,) Nielsen doubled-down and defended her lie:

Pence & Nielsen, during lengthy reporter briefing, repeatedly emphasized that border situation amounts to an “urgent crisis.” Perhaps the aim is to convince the public or pressure Dems back to the table; but also serves to create pretext for POTUS declaring a national emergency. — Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 7, 2019

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The news exploded on social media, causing instant anger and mockery directed towards President Trump and his administration, barely more than 24 hours before he is expected to address the nation on the border “crisis.”

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Terrorists are not flooding our Southern Border.

There isn’t a national emergency.

Mexico didn’t pay for a wall.

Refugee children are dying at the hands of Trump’s deportation force. Pres. Trump is throwing a tantrum, flat out making things up, & holding the government hostage. https://t.co/I1cTGUlRR3 — Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) January 7, 2019

4000. Or 6.

Maybe they were rounding up to the nearest 4000? https://t.co/HSTHaM98B7 — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) January 7, 2019

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…and what it is really all about. There is no sudden “crisis” at the border. That is why the Trumpers keep lying about terrorists. There is a crisis for Trump’s ego: He started a fight to get cheers from Fox, Limbaugh and Coulter, with no idea how to get out. Ego is all. https://t.co/yOkD9WoSsz — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 7, 2019

$950 million per suspected terrorist! https://t.co/mfBorVvkVM — Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) January 7, 2019

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Exclusive Finally got the answer to the question we’ve been asking since Sarah Sanders said 4K terrorists were stopped at the southern border. https://t.co/iFMMwdRQZW — Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) January 7, 2019

4000. Or 6.

Maybe they were rounding up to the nearest 4000? https://t.co/HSTHaM98B7 — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) January 7, 2019

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Exclusive Finally got the answer to the question we’ve been asking since Sarah Sanders said 4K terrorists were stopped at the southern border. https://t.co/iFMMwdRQZW — Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) January 7, 2019

Wrong. The best way to read it: Border authorities encountered 6 with names sufficiently similar to one of the hundreds of thousands on multiple US Government watchlists. Senator Ted Kennedy, whose name resembled a watchlist entry, would have told you how fool-proof this is. https://t.co/wKbrlpB0Rn — Ned Price (@nedprice) January 7, 2019

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