Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are facing off in their first presidential debate, and challenging each other over their plans for the nation and the economy. The 90-minute debate is being hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and began at 9 p.m. ET.
CBS News’ Confirmed team is conducting the fact-checks of the comments Harris and Trump are making about each other and about their own records and plans.
False: Trump claims “millions and millions of people” are “pouring into our country monthly”
Trump: “[W]hen you look at what she’s done to our country, and when you look at these millions (and) millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly, where it’s, I believe 21 million people, not the 15 that people that say. And I think it’s a lot higher than the 21. That’s bigger than New York state. Pouring in. And just look at what they’re doing to our country.”
Details: Encounters of migrants by Customs and Border Protection at the U.S.-Mexico border have reached record levels in the past four years, under the Biden administration. But the number isn’t close to the figures cited by Trump, and not everyone who has crossed the border under Mr. Biden has been allowed to stay.
CBP has recorded over 8 million encounters with migrants at the southern border since Mr. Biden took office in 2021, federal figures show. Encounters include migrants who cross into the country illegally between legal entry points and those processed at these official crossings, known as ports of entry. Encounters do not represent unique individuals, since some migrants cross the border illegally multiple times.
CBP has never recorded “millions” of migrant encounters in a month. The highest monthly migrant encounter tally was recorded in December 2023, when CBP processed over 300,000 migrants.
In addition to those processed by CBP, there are migrants who successfully cross the southern border illegally without being caught. Border Patrol estimates that 1.7 million migrants have evaded apprehension since the start of fiscal year 2021.
Just because migrants were processed by CBP does not mean they were allowed to stay. Many have been released into the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court. But the U.S. has also turned away or deported over 4 million migrants since the start of fiscal year 2021, according to Department of Homeland Security data.
By Camilo Montoya Galvez
Partially true, needs context: Harris claims Trump would enact $4,000 “sales tax”
Harris: “Economists have said that Trump sales tax would actually result — for middle class families — in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be — [on] the backs of middle class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Details: Harris is citing an estimate of potential costs if Trump were to implement tariffs on imported goods. Trump has advocated for a tariff of at least 10% on most imports and a tariff of at least 60% on Chinese imports.
However, estimates of the potential costs and the likely scale of the tariffs vary. An analysis from the Center for American Progress Action, a progressive policy institute, estimated that a 20% tariff on most imports, combined with a 60% tax on Chinese goods, would amount to a tax increase of around $3,900 annually for middle-income families.
The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, estimated that a 10% worldwide tariff and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods would lower average after-tax incomes by about $1,800 in 2025.
Economists told CBS News that everyday consumers would bear the brunt of higher import tariffs through increased prices on goods, effectively acting as a tax. In an interview with The New York Times, Robert Lighthizer, who served as Trump’s chief trade negotiator and still advises his campaign on trade issues, said the burden on American households could be offset by tax cuts.
By Emma Li
False: Trump claims “they had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country”
Details: Under President Biden, year-over-year inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. That was the highest monthly figure in about 40 years, but not the highest ever. The 1970s and early 1980s saw inflation rates between 12% and 14%, according to Federal Reserve data. Inflation has since cooled considerably. The figures for July 2024 show year-to-year inflation is about 2.9%.
By Laura Doan
