Trump claims migrants have 'bad genes'

Topline

Former President Donald Trump suggested Monday that migrants coming to the U.S. border have “bad genes” and accused Vice President Kamala Harris of “allowing people to come to an open border,” including “murderers.” “.

Important facts

Cons

Recent studies contradict the assertion that migrants living in the United States illegally commit crimes more often than migrants living in the country legally. A 2023 Stanford University study found that immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born men. The Cato Institute has also published several studies showing that immigrants in Texas who are in the country illegally are less likely to be detained and are less likely to be convicted of murder than U.S. citizens.

Important background

Trump has ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric and proposals during his recent campaign, promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants if elected. In recent weeks, he repeated baseless claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping and eating residents' pets, even though city officials said there were no verifiable reports of such incidents. He also called Biden-Harris' immigration policies a “bloodbath at the border,” while repeating a false claim he has made for years that other countries are sending “prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mentally ill and terrorists” to the U.S., he said him in April. Trump has also falsely referred to Harris as a “border czar,” a mischaracterization of the role Biden gave her in March 2021 to work with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to address the root causes of migration to the United States

Further reading

'Joe Biden's Border Bloodbath': Trump Doubles Down on Controversial Anti-Immigration Rhetoric (Forbes)

What to know about Kamala Harris' immigration record before visiting the border today (Forbes)

More than half of Americans fear non-citizens are voting illegally, survey finds, despite little evidence (Forbes)