2024 FactCheck: on Immigration


Ron DeSantis: Children born here to illegal immigrants aren't "anchors"

DeSantis said, "The 14th Amendment obviously applies to U.S. citizens. It was never the intended to say, you come illegally across the border, have a kid, and all of sudden, the kid is an American citizen? That creates an anchor in the society so that you then can't deport the illegal aliens who came in. It's an incentive to come illegally. When people are coming illegally, they do not have a birthright at that point."

[DeSantis is proposing to overturn a Supreme Court precedent from 1898]: Fact Check by The Guardian, Mar. 16 2020 Children born on US soil can't just immediately safeguard their family members from deportation. A US citizen must be 21 years old before they can sponsor their parents for a green card. Even if parents do get a green card, they have a five-year holding period before they can finally apply for naturalization. In the end, the so-called "anchor baby" pathway to citizenship is at least a 26-year endeavor, even for those who entered the US legally.

Source: Guardian FactCheck on CNN Town Hall 2024 pre-Iowa caucus Jan 4, 2024

Donald Trump: FactCheck: No, immigrants in Ohio aren't eating pet dogs

Q: We're going to turn now to immigration.

TRUMP: By allowing these millions of people to come into our country, look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame.

Q: I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.

TRUMP: Well, I've seen people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager.

Q: I'm not taking this from television. I'm taking it from the city manager.

TRUMP: But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.

Source: ABC News FactCheck: 2024 Presidential debate in Philadelphia Sep 10, 2024

Donald Trump: FactCheck: immigrants eating pets is slur from 19th century

Less than half an hour into Tuesday's presidential debate, former president Donald Trump deployed an updated version of a century-old slur against immigrant communities: that newcomers are eating other people's pets. Though city officials confirmed that they have received no such reports, and the baseless claim quickly drew condemnation, false claims about Haitians eating pets went viral on rightwing social media, and were quickly amplified by conservative lawmakers.

People of Haitian descent say these xenophobic attacks are nothing new for their community, and experts say the "dog eater" trope is a fearmongering tactic white politicians have long deployed against immigrants of color, particularly those of Asian descent.

Demonizing immigrants through falsehoods about their diet is a political tactic that originated in the late 19th century. More recently, in 2016, US Senate hopeful Faye Stewart accused Vietnamese refugees of "harvesting" dogs and cats for food.

Source: The Guardian FactCheck: 2024 Presidential debate in Phila. Sep 14, 2024

JD Vance: FactCheck: immigrants eating pets is slur from 19th century

Less than half an hour into Tuesday's presidential debate, Trump deployed an updated version of a century-old slur against immigrant communities: that newcomers are eating other people's pets. False claims about Haitians eating pets went viral on rightwing social media, and were quickly amplified by conservative lawmakers.

The Ohio senator and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance wrote on X about reports of "Haitian illegal immigrants" abducting and eating pets and causing "general chaos" in Springfield.

An urban legend alleging that Chinese restaurants serve dog meat, cat meat or rats dates back to the beginning of Chinese immigration to the US. An editorial from a Mississippi newspaper in 1852, for example, laments that trade with China is "not what it ought to be", then says, "and besides, the Chinese still eat dog-pie". Chinese people may have been the first immigrant group to be widely profiled as "dog eaters", but the slur was soon directed at other Asian communities

Source: The Guardian FactCheck: 2024 Presidential debate in Phila. Sep 14, 2024

  • The above quotations are from Fact-checking on 2024 presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate campaigns.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Immigration.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Cornel West on Immigration.
  • Click here for more quotes by Donald Trump on Immigration.
2024 Presidential contenders on Immigration:
  Candidates for President & Vice-President:
V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA)
Chase Oliver(L-GA)
Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA)
Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL)
Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH)
Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN)
Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ)

2024 presidential primary contenders:
Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE)
N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R)
N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R)
Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R)
S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R)
Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R)
Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN)
Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH)
S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R)
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Page last updated: Oct 27, 2024