2014 VA Senate debate: on Immigration

Ed Gillespie: Send migrant kids back to parents in Central America

Warner emphasized the need to speed up the processing of these children, but he said "many of these children will be sent home. That process will result in some of those kids going back, but there ought to be a process," he said.

Mark Warner: Send migrant kids back to Central America, after processing

Warner emphasized the need to speed up the processing of these children, but he said "many of these children will be sent home. That process will result in some of those kids going back, but there ought to be a process," he said.

Robert Sarvis: Liberalize immigration; population growth lowest since 1930s

"RT," if you're wondering, means retweet. That cleared up, we didn't know that the nation's population growth had reached an 80-year low.

So we decided to look at data from Sarvis' primary source: the US. Census Bureau. We found mid-year population estimates dating back to 1900. Population growth hovered between 1% and 2% until 1931 when, in the Great Depression, it dropped to 0.78%. It bottomed at 0.59% in July 1933.

US population growth is closely tied to the economy. During bad times, couples delay having children. In 2012, only 12.6% of U.S. women aged 15-44 had children. That's the lowest birth rate in records dating back to 1940. Immigration has slowed since the start of this century, too.

Our ruling: The figures back up Sarvis and we rate his statement True.

Ed Gillespie: Unapologetic supporter of comprehensive immigration overhaul

"Anybody associated with the national Republican hierarchy is a little bit suspect," one pundit said. "Sometimes that's fair, sometimes not. He's going to have to prove he's not the same as the rest of the Washington GOP establishment."