OnTheIssues Fact Checking: on Immigration

Kirstjen Nielsen: FactCheck: Falsely claims no policy of family separation

The Huffington Post contrasted Nielsen's comments with the fact that "last week, DHS announced that nearly 2,000 kids had been separated from their parents during a six-week period ending last month. Many of those children are being held in juvenile detention centers."

How can both of these statements be true? Simple: the press is ignoring the MEANING of Nielsen's tweet.

Nielsen says that families who present themselves for asylum at LEGAL border crossing will not be separated. She intends to confuse voters between THAT non-separation policy with the OTHER policy for separating families who cross the border illegally.

Donald Trump: FactCheck: "Fire and Fury" ignored Trump's 2000 book

Wolff evidently is unaware that Trump wrote a policy book in 2000, The America We Deserve, in his run for the Reform Party presidential nomination. Trump fully laid out his immigration stance: America first; make legal immigration hard; control borders against illegal immigrants.

Trump has no bewilderment; you might disagree with Trump's stances, but they have remained unchanged for 18 years now. Wolff is particularly wrong in characterizing Trump's "earliest political outings" as around 2008--Trump was fully engaged in 2000. But people like Wolff weren't listening then!

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: Yes, voted for a partial wall on Mexican border

• CLINTON: "I have been for border security for years; I voted for border security in the US Senate."
• TRUMP: "Hillary Clinton wanted the wall in 2006 or thereabouts."
• CLINTON: I voted for border security, and there are some limited places where [a wall] was appropriate."
• Who's right?

• Vote #235 on June 28, 2007 on S.1639, the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill: "Establishes specified benchmarks which must be met [before comprehensive reform, including] operational control of the border with Mexico; Border Patrol increases; border barriers, including vehicle barriers, fencing, radar, and aerial vehicles.
• Vote #262 on Sept. 29, 2006 on H.R.6061, the Secure Fence Act:[including] "physical infrastructure enhancements to prevent unlawful border entry."

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: Yes, would increase Syrian refugees by 550%

Yes, the current number of resettled Syrian refugees in the U.S. is 10,000 and Hillary proposes an increase the number to 65,000, which is indeed a 550% increase.

President Obama set a limit of 10,000 Syrian refugees for 2016, which Hillary Clinton called "a good start" on a goal of 65,000, who would be admitted after a vetting process that takes 18-24 months. A group of fourteen Senate Democrats called for the 65,000 figure in mid-2015. The total number of refugees is currently about 4.5 million, most of whom reside in temporary refugee camps. About 160,000 have been permanently re-settled worldwide, including 40,000 in Germany, 40,000 in Sweden, 31,000 elsewhere in Europe, and 10,000 in the U.S. [Sources: Al Jazeera 1/28/16 and Amnesty International and Oxfam reports]

Jill Stein: FactCheck: 2.5M deportations counts removals, not returns

Nikki Haley: FactCheck: US does have history of religion-based exclusion

• Until 1828, Jews were disallowed from voting in Maryland.
• In 1838, all Mormons were expelled from Missouri by the Governor's order.
• The Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration from Southern & Eastern Europe (which are majority Catholic) in favor of Northern & Western Europe (which are majority Protestant).
• In 1939, the S.S. St. Louis, carrying 908 Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany, was denied entrance to the US.

Ted Cruz: FactCheck: Yes, Bill Clinton deported 12M illegal aliens

Is that true? We checked, and found that both of Cruz's figures are accurate. Looking at the Department of Homeland Security's "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Enforcement Actions", the figures in Table 39 are: