By Maria Ramirez Uribe -
Politifact
As the midterm elections in November approach, politicians and television ads repeat inaccurate and misleading claims about immigration.
A survey by National Public Radio (NPR) and the consulting firm Ipsos revealed that
a significant number of Americans believe these lies.
About 1,000 adults were asked about the veracity of some news, including those that say there is an "invasion" on the southern border and that most of the fentanyl that enters the country is smuggled by migrants who cross the border irregularly.
None of the statements is true.
What the coyotes charge migrants is doubled (but paying them more does not guarantee anything)
Sept.
7, 202201:54
“That the public believes it is mainly because it is the information that political leaders repeat to them over and over again,” said Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of Immigration and Cross-Border Policy at the Center for Bipartisan Policy.
PolitiFact reviewed the arguments that respondents found to be true.
Most contradict reality.
The southern border is not open
Some elected officials, conservative media outlets and social media users
say the southern border is open.
Some 42% of Americans questioned believe that this is totally or partially true, according to the NPR poll.
[A delegation from New York visits the border to assess the crisis of migrants being bused into the city]
“To say that the border is open is to imply that there is no one to monitor it or prevent people from crossing and that is not true,” Brown said.
A combination of physical barriers like fences or fences, surveillance technology like drones, and some 20,000 Border Patrol agents limit what and who enters the United States.
Migrants ask to be given a work permit while they wait for a resolution of their asylums in the US.
Sept.
7, 202201:49
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, people who are found by Border Patrol trying to cross the border irregularly are returned to their country of origin (or to Mexico, their last place of transit) or allowed to enter to present your case under United States immigration law.
Some arrive undetected: that has happened in multiple administrations, including that of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
But that's not because of "open border" policies, saying that would negate the work of Border Patrol agents and the billions of dollars spent over decades to control movements on the southwest border.
There is no
"invasion" on the border
Political ads focused on the midterm elections brand irregular migration on the southern border as an "invasion."
More than half of Americans surveyed by NPR/Ipsos believe that to be true or partially true.
But many people who cross the border irregularly turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents to ask for asylum, Brown said.
To say that the border is open is to insinuate that there is no one to monitor it or prevent people from crossing and that is not true”
Theresa Brown Bipartisan Policy Center
"That is not behavior that can be attributed to an 'invader,'" Brown said.
The term "invasion," he clarified, is usually used to describe an organized effort by one country to force its way into and take over another.
Most Americans believe that the US is suffering from an invasion of immigrants
Aug. 18, 202202:01
That narrative has been pushed by local Texas officials.
Several counties have adopted disaster declarations calling the number of migrants crossing the border an “invasion.”
[The migrant who accused her boss of raping her lost the lawsuit against him and Sbarro Pizza]
Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas who is seeking re-election this year, is being encouraged by local officials to declare an "invasion" on the state.
This, they say, would allow them to divert state resources towards the expulsion of migrants.
Arizona's Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has vowed to declare an "invasion" if elected.
Most of the fentanyl that enters the United States is not brought by migrants
Overdose deaths, primarily from fentanyl, have been on the rise in the United States since 2013. Mexico is the main source of illegal fentanyl entering the country, according to a report by RAND Corp, a global policy think tank.
Some 50% of Americans surveyed believe it is partially or completely true that “migrants who bring fentanyl and other illegal drugs across the southern border are responsible for the increase in drug overdoses and deaths in the United States.”
They rescue 266 migrants who were traveling crammed into double bottoms of trucks in Nuevo León
Sept.
7, 202200:23
39% think that "most of the fentanyl that enters the country is smuggled by migrants who cross the border irregularly."
But most of the fentanyl and other illegal drugs that arrive from Mexico
enter large trucks or cars through official ports
, according to the Congressional Research Service, which conducts research and public policy analysis for that entity.
[The dramatic rescue of Venezuelan migrants dragged by the current of the Rio Grande]
At ports of entry, Customs and Border Protection officers conduct inspections to determine whether people, vehicles, and what they are transporting will legally enter the United States.
So far in fiscal year 2022, which began in October 2021, border agents have seized more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl, some 9,000 at ports of entry.
A migrant family approaches the Border Patrol vehicle after surrendering in Texas.
Photo from June 16, 2021. Eric Gay / AP
Border Patrol agents have checkpoints on major highways, Brown said.
"The majority of Border Patrol fentanyl seizures occur in those locations," he said.
“Not in possession of migrants.”
Migrants are no more likely to commit crimes than Americans
A quarter of those questioned incorrectly believe that it is true that migrants are more likely than Americans to commit crimes or to be in prison, according to the NPR/Ipsos poll.
But studies refute this argument.
“People born in the United States are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes
, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug charges, and more than four times more likely to be arrested for property offenses,” revealed a 2020 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. .
[“The Rio Grande was carrying me”: a Venezuelan mother recounts the hardest part of her journey to the US]
The number of criminal charges listed as grounds for the deportation of migrants has also decreased in the last decade.
In 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement listed about 57,000 crime-related grounds for deportation.
That number dropped to fewer than 9,000 in 2021
, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
People in irregular status are not entitled to federal benefits
About 38% of those surveyed by NPR believe it is true that "migrants are more likely than Americans to use public assistance."
People who are in the United States irregularly
They are not entitled
to most federal benefits
, such as Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and non-emergency Medicaid.
Most of the public benefits that are granted in the United States are for Americans”
THERESA BROWN Bipartisan Policy Center
They may be eligible for certain health care and nutrition programs if those benefits are deemed necessary to protect life or ensure safety in emergency situations.
Some states like New York and California allow them to receive certain state-funded benefits.
In general, research shows that
migrants do not use them more than those born in the United States
.
“In general, most of the public benefits that are granted in the United States are for Americans,” Brown stressed.
Migrants are not being moved in secret
Some Republican officials have claimed the government is secretly moving irregular migrants from state to state.
Some 35% of Americans believe this to be true or partially true, according to NPR.
A migrant and his son wait to be seen by Border Patrol agents.
Gregory Bull/AP
Sometimes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement moves adults from one detention center to another using ICE air services.
Under federal law, unaccompanied children cannot be held by border agents for more than 72 hours.
Therefore, Customs and Border Protection releases them into the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
This agency takes them to their parents, adult relatives or authorized shelters.
For this reason, it is often necessary to transport children by plane across the country.
But these flights take place at any time and the Department of Health and Human Services gives few details to protect the privacy of minors, The Washington Post reported.
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