Donald Trump called upon more immigration rhetoric during a rally in Tempe, Arizona, this week claiming that countries were “dumping” their citizens into the United States, referring to the U.S. as a “garbage can for the world.”
The former president, who according to polling averages analysis by FiveThirtyEight is leading in the battleground state, whipped up fears and misleading claims about undocumented migrants.
Among his claims, Trump said that nearly half a million “criminal aliens” had entered the country during the Biden administration.
Donald Trump at Mullet Arena in Tempe, Arizona on October 24, 2024. Trump claimed that nearly half a million undocumented migrants with criminal records had been released into the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration.
REBECCA NOBLE/AFP via Getty Images
The Claim
At a rally in Tempe, Arizona, on October 24, 2024, Donald Trump said: “425,000 convicted criminal aliens were released into our country over the last three and a half years. Think of that: 425,000.”
The Facts
This statistic is false and plays off a similarly false claim that Trump has made throughout the campaign, that 13,099 “murderers” had entered the country during the Biden administration.
The figures are based on a letter from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent to Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzales on September 25, 2024, listing noncitizens on its docket including 425,431 who were “non-detained.”
Gonzales publicized the letter in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket—13,099 criminally convicted MURDERS!” Gonzales wrote.
“Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities.”
However, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on September 29, 2024, that the data goes back decades and included incarcerated non-citizens.
“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
“The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration.
“It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction of or currently incarcerated by federal, state, or local law enforcement partners.”
An ICE budget report from 2023 shows there were “405,786 convicted criminal noncitizens on the Non-Detained Docket” on June 5, 2021, a matter of months into the Biden presidency.
The letter sent to Gonzales added that while ICE officers could in some circumstances use their discretion to release non-citizens with conditions, this was made on a “case-by-case basis” which took into account “the individual case circumstances, primarily considering risk of flight, national security threat, and threat to public safety.”
“ICE takes other factors into consideration as well, including when a noncitizen has a serious medical condition, is the primary caregiver of minor children, or other humanitarian considerations.”
It added that it was “removing and returning record numbers of migrants who are unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States.”
Newsweek has contacted a Donald Trump media representative via email for comment.
The Ruling
False.
This claim is inaccurate. It’s based on a misinterpreted letter that spans 40 years of data and includes incarcerated non-citizens. The claim is a spin of a similarly misleading claim Trump made recently about noncitizen murderers.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
