By Felicia J. Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. July 1, 2024: What happened to Joe Biden between the State of the Union in February and the much-anticipated CNN debate on June 27th? Biden appeared as a robotic, dazed version of himself, with his cognitive abilities and responses reduced to incoherence and absurdity, lacking the verbal pushback he needed.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen on a video camera as he speaks at a post-debate campaign rally on June 28, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. President Biden and Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign on June 27th. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
By contrast, Donald “King Liar” Trump remained his usual bombastic, dishonest, xenophobic self, continuing to play the “blame the immigrants” card. Much like he did in 2016 and throughout his presidency, Trump continued his “blame the immigrants” rhetoric, avoiding direct answers and focusing on lies about his tenure and the 2020 election. His entire performance reminded me of a childhood song from Trinidadian Calypsonian Lord Nelson:
“Yuh hear lie, King liar.
Teacher Percy say if yuh tell ah lie
You going to hell as soon as yuh die.”
Here are some of the lies Trump told during the 90-minute debate about immigrants and immigration:
False Claims on Immigrant Numbers and Criminals
Trump claimed President Biden has allowed in 18 million people from “prisons, jails, and mental institutions,” which is unfounded. “We have a border that’s the most dangerous place anywhere in the world — considered the most dangerous place anywhere in the world.”
Independent data shows that from 2021 to 2024, border officials arrested a little over 100,000 non-citizens with criminal convictions. Encounters do not equate to admissions; they often lead to expulsions, and one person may be counted multiple times.
Linking Crime and Immigration
Trump again linked crime to immigration, a recurring Republican theme. Research consistently shows immigrants, particularly undocumented ones, commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens. A Cato Institute paper found that undocumented immigrants were 26% less likely than native-born Americans to be convicted of homicide, and legal immigrants were 61% less likely. Texas data from 2013 to 2022 supports this, showing lower conviction rates for undocumented immigrants than for natural-born citizens.
Despite high-profile crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants, FBI statistics do not differentiate crimes by immigration status. Studies indicate undocumented individuals are less likely than native-born Americans to be arrested for violent, drug, or property crimes. While the number of foreigners on the terrorist watch list has increased, they remain a small fraction of total migrants, with the U.S. Border Patrol encountering 169 people from the list from October 2022 to September 2023.
Exaggerating Threats and Misleading Comparisons
Trump falsely claimed the U.S. is overrun with terrorists, describing the country as a “rat’s nest.” He said Biden “allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails, and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country.”
He disparaged Biden’s efforts to seek congressional support for border control, claiming he managed without legislation by simply closing the border. Trump misleadingly compared migrant living conditions to those of unhoused veterans, labeling them “luxury hotels.”
Trump falsely accused Biden of causing deaths by allowing migrants into the country and used nearly every question to repeat his lies.
Immigrants Getting Social Security
Trump falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants are being put “on Social Security.”
“They’re going to destroy Social Security. This man is going to single-handedly destroy Social Security. These millions and millions of people coming in, they’re trying to put them on Social Security. He will wipe out Social Security. He will wipe out Medicare.”
The fact is undocumented immigrants cannot qualify for either Social Security or Medicaid and CHIP coverage. Many lawful permanent residents (LPRs or green card holders) have a five-year waiting period before they can get Medicaid and CHIP coverage. Only individuals with a work permit who pay taxes with a valid Social Security number can eventually collect Social Security, as they would have paid into the system. Undocumented immigrants, many of whom pay taxes with a valid tax-ID number from the IRS, cannot file for Social Security benefits. The Brookings Institute has noted that future U.S. population growth, including the sustainability of the Social Security trust fund, depends on immigration levels.
Immigrants Taking Black and Hispanic Jobs
Trump also used divisive tactics, claiming that new migrants were taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs,” which received criticism for its unclear terminology.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Black and Hispanic workers have seen gains during both the Biden and Trump administrations. Under Trump, the unemployment rate for Black people fell to 5.3% in September 2019 and to 3.9% for Latinos, reaching record lows at the time. These rates dropped again under Biden, with Black unemployment hitting a new low of 4.8% in April 2023 and Hispanic unemployment reaching 3.9% in September 2022.
Trump claimed: “The only jobs he (Biden) created are for illegal immigrants and bounce-back jobs.”
Ignoring Direct Questions
When asked if he would deport every undocumented immigrant, including those with jobs and families, Trump avoided the question, instead reverting to his xenophobic talking points and falsely linking immigration to crime.
“Yuh hear lie, King liar.
Teacher Percy say if yuh tell ah lie
You going to hell as soon as yuh die.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news on the Black immigrant communities of the Caribbean and Latin America.
