Donald Trump leaned into his anti-immigrant rhetoric when he made a claim about immigration from Venezuela to America. But the former president then struggled to back up his assertion when quizzed on the source of his statistic.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, ended an interview with Fox 2 Detroit anchor Roop Raj by saying: “One stat before we go. Venezuela was very crime-ridden. They announced the other day 72% reduction in crime in the last year. You know why? They moved all their criminals from Venezuela right into the good old U.S.A. and [President Joe] Biden let them do it. It’s a disgrace.”
Raj asked Trump, “But sir, where are those numbers coming from?”
Trump floundered in response: “Uhhh, I guess I get them from the papers in this case. I think it’s a federal statement or, well, they’re coming actually from Venezuela. They’re coming from Venezuela.”
“We’ll have to check on that,” said Raj, whose full interview with Trump will air Thursday.
FOX 2’s Roop Raj one-on-one with former president Trump. Abortion, immigration, states-rights…a wide-ranging “nothing off-limits” interview Thursday on FOX 2. pic.twitter.com/uKIbgjm1oc
— FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) April 30, 2024
Trump has made a similar claim about the effect that Venezuelan immigration to the U.S. is having on its own national crime stats before ― but with a different number.
“Crime is down in Venezuela by 67% because they’re taking their gangs and their criminals and depositing them very nicely into the United States,” he told supporters at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, only on Apr. 2.
PolitiFact, the nonprofit U.S. political fact-checking site, described that instance of Trump’s spin as exaggerated.
Crime is down in Venezuela, it noted, but not by the massive percentage that Trump claims. As official figures are hard to come by, it could be by around 20% to 30%. The website also cited local sources saying it’s down to varying other factors ― including the economy and the consolidation of organized crime ― and not, as Trump tells it, the emptying of its prisons into America.
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