House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi saying that “building a wall will violate the rights of millions of illegals” is false. A viral meme suggested that Pelosi made comments related to undocumented immigrants and President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall—but the quote is not real.

According to Snopes, the fake quote began circulating social media shortly after Pelosi released a statement on Trump’s threat to shut down the government in August. The meme claimed that Pelosi said, “Building a wall will violate the rights of millions of illegals,” with an added insinuation that she is “clueless” and “delusional” since “illegals have no rights.” It recently began circulating again due to the government shutdown in January. The quote, however, is completely fake and the “no rights” assertion is inaccurate.

In the press release from August, Pelosi responded to Trump’s threat to shut down the government over border wall funding. She wrote:

Last night, President Trump yet again threatened to cause chaos in the lives of millions of Americans if he doesn’t get his way. Make no mistake: the President said he will purposefully hurt American communities to force American taxpayers to fund an immoral, ineffective and expensive border wall. President Trump’s multi-billion dollar border wall boondoggle is strongly opposed by Democrats and many Republicans. Democrats will stand fast against the immoral, ineffective border wall and the rest of Republicans’ unacceptable poison pill riders.

While Pelosi called the border wall “immoral,” she never stated that it would “violate the rights of millions of illegals.” In April, she said in an interview with Chuck Todd, “The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise, and when the president says, ‘Well, I promised a wall during my campaign.’ I don’t think he said he was going to pass billions of dollars of cost of the wall on to the taxpayer.”

Most recently, she listed on Twitter the ways that Trump’s proposed border wall funding could be better used, including job training, providing the VA with more resources and helping Puerto Rico. She also rebuffed Trump’s funding request on Sunday amid the government shutdown over DACA and immigration.

THREAD: @realDonaldTrump, that border wall funding you are asking for (again) could do so much more good in other places…. #NoWall — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 5, 2018

All of these and more would do a far better job of improving the everyday lives of American families than your ineffective & immoral wall. No thanks. #NoWall — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 5, 2018

Pelosi did not say that “building a wall violates the rights of millions of illegals.” Furthermore, the suggestion implied in the false meme that undocumented immigrants don’t have rights is incorrect. They do have some constitutional rights. According to The Hill, the “U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Zadvydas v. Davis (2001) that ‘due process’ of the 14th Amendment applies to all aliens in the United States whose presence maybe or is ‘unlawful, involuntary or transitory.’” Undocumented immigrants, therefore, have some constitutional protections—despite the implications of the false meme.

Here are some examples of people sharing the fake quote on social media:

Social Media Shares Fake Nancy Pelosi Quote about “Millions of Illegals”

Nancy Pelosi is a clueless, delusional and pathetic dolt. Only House DimLibs would pick a total DimWit as their leader. Did they learn nothing in November??? #tcot #ccot #gop #SchumerShutdown #maga #ReleaseTheMemo pic.twitter.com/qoXd7jTdWl — John K Stahl (@JohnKStahlUSA) January 23, 2018

“Building a wall will violate the rights of millions of illegals.” — You just cannot fix stupid! Posted by Jimmy Chapman on Saturday, January 20, 2018

If this Witch, by the name of Nancy Pelosi gets voted back in by the people of Ca., you deserve everything you have coming to you! Really hope the Deplorables can cede from this madness or at least oust them! pic.twitter.com/iBaicTI4R4 — Luis Pin (@LuisPin23257352) January 22, 2018

pic.twitter.com/gKwCKQizhm — M’la (@heifer109) January 12, 2018

Have you seen the false meme about Nancy Pelosi saying that “building a wall will violate the rights of millions of illegals” circulating social media? What are your thoughts on undocumented immigrants having some constitutional protections? Sound off in the comments section below.

Photo credit: United States Congress, Wikimedia Commons

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