The Republican presidential candidate has claimed his controversial comments have been ‘deliberately distorted’ by the media. We take a closer look

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday defended his claims that the Mexican government deliberately sends drugs, rapists and criminals to the US, and made new claims that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border”.



Here we fact-check the businessman and TV star’s claims, which he says have been “deliberately distorted by the media”.

Claim

This is the comment that started the controversy, from his 16 June speech announcing his run for the presidency.

When Mexico, meaning the Mexican government, sends its people … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

Trump goes on to say that it was not just Mexico sending drugs, rapists and criminals to the US, it was every part of South America “and it’s coming probably from the Middle East”.

The facts

Are the people emigrating from Mexico to the US rapists and criminals?

First-generation immigrants have a significantly lower crime rate than that of the overall population, according to an analysis by University of Massachusetts-Boston sociologist Bianca E Bersani. The crime rate for second-generation immigrants, however, is higher, running just below that of the native-born population. Pew Research calls this “the dark side of assimilation”.

Are drugs, rapists and criminals coming from the Middle East to the US?



The US census does not presently include a category for people of Middle Eastern and north African descent, so estimates of numbers of immigrants from the Middle East vary, between 1.8 million and 3.7 million.

This group is significantly more educated than the foreign-born population as a whole and the native-born population, according to the Migration Policy Institute. There is no indication that Arab Americans are contributing to a higher crime rate.

The Washington Post put together a list of other studies showing that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born population.

Trump himself followed his statement by saying: “But we don’t know.”

Claim

In his statement on Monday defending his earlier comments, Trump said:

The Mexican government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc. This was evident just this week when, as an example, a young woman in San Francisco was viciously killed by a five-time deported Mexican with a long criminal record, who was forced back into the United States because they didn’t want him in Mexico. This is merely one of thousands of similar incidents throughout the United States.

The facts

San Francisco is considered a “sanctuary city” because of its liberal policy towards undocumented immigrants. Francisco Sanchez, the man accused of killing the young woman, Kathryn Steinle, had been deported from the US five times and did have a long criminal record. He said in a jailhouse interview that he kept returning to the US to find a job – but there is no indication that he was forced into the US by government officials in Mexico.

The reference to thousands of similar incidents could refer to a report by the anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies saying that 36,007 convicted criminals were released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in 2013. There is no data on whether those people went on to commit further crimes. Those that were released included 16,000 people with drunk-driving records and 193 people who had been convicted of homicide.



Claim

The largest suppliers of heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs are Mexican cartels that arrange to have Mexican immigrants trying to cross the borders and smuggle in the drugs.

The facts

Mexico is the primary supplier of heroin to the US, according to the White House. It is also the main transportation route for cocaine to the US, though not the primary producer. The CIA said it is the largest supplier of marijuana and methamphetamines to the US.

While some Mexican immigrants do smuggle drugs, US citizens are also deeply involved in border drug operations. Four out of five drug busts by border patrol involve US citizens, said the Center for Investigative Reporting in a March 2013 report.



Claim

Likewise, tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border. The United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world.

The facts

Doctors have repeatedly disputed claims that immigrants bring in infectious diseases from Mexico, which has a higher vaccination rate than the US.

Claim

I have great respect for Mexico and love their people and their people’s great spirit.

The facts

Mexicans seem to think otherwise.

“If I had Donald Trump in front of me, I would call him a racist imbecile,” a Mexico City resident told the Guardian. “He thinks that because he has money he can say anything he likes.”