The president’s address to the nation on immigration was littered with falsehoods he’s said before. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)
The first misleading statement in President Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday night came in the first sentence.
Trump, addressing a national television audience from behind his desk, warned of a “security crisis at the southern border” — even though the number of people caught trying to cross illegally is near 20-year lows.
Another false claim came moments later, when Trump said border agents “encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country” every day, though his administration puts the daily average for 2018 in the hundreds. A few sentences later, he said 90 percent of the heroin in the United States comes across the border with Mexico, ignoring the fact that most of the drugs come through legal entry points and wouldn’t be stopped by the border wall that he is demanding as the centerpiece of his showdown with Democrats.
View the complete January 9 by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.