During Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention speech — which, believe it or not, was delivered less than two weeks ago — the former president spent a fair amount of time talking about conditions at the U.S./Mexico border. The GOP nominee, however, did not appear to have any idea what he was talking about.
“We also have an illegal immigration crisis, and it’s taking place right now,” Trump said, adding, “The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country. … They’re coming at levels that we’ve never seen before. It is an invasion indeed, and this administration does absolutely nothing to stop them.”
The comments were well received by his partisan followers, which wasn’t surprising: Republican voters have heard this message so many times that they assume it’s true, though reality tells a different story. In fact, as a CNN fact-check piece noted soon after, “Trump’s claim that the Biden administration is doing ‘nothing’ is incorrect. Illegal crossings at the US border dropped in June and the Biden administration has imposed significant restrictions on asylum along with other measures to curb illegal immigration.”
CBS News recently ran a related report, noting that the number of migrants unlawfully crossing the U.S. southern border “continued to drop markedly in July.”
July is on track to see the fifth consecutive monthly drop in migrant apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border and the lowest level in illegal immigration there since the fall of 2020, during the Trump administration, the internal Department of Homeland Security figures show. In early June, President Biden invoked a far-reaching presidential authority to suspend the entry of most migrants entering the U.S. illegally, effectively shutting off access to the American asylum system outside of official ports of entry.
The same CBS report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that illegal border crossings were already falling earlier this year, but after the Biden/Harris administration implemented changes, crossings “plunged further … reaching a three-year low in June.”
To help drive the point home, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut added via social media that border crossings are now even lower “than in Trump’s last non-pandemic summer.”
A New York Times report also noted last week that while the rhetoric from Trump and his party remains the same, “the reality on the ground has recently changed.”
To be sure, conditions might yet change again, and there are a variety of factors that have contributed to the improved numbers. The bottom line, however, remains the same: To believe that “the greatest invasion in history” is underway at the U.S./Mexico border is to believe stale and discredited nonsense.
