The actual statistic is more nuanced than the president suggested
There is no public evidence to substantiate President Donald Trump’s claim on Tuesday, in the context of a discussion of security at the southern border, that 10 terrorists have been caught recently trying to enter the United States.
Trump’s comments sparked a small tempest on social media, but a recent State Department report showed no terrorist threat on the Mexico border, and Trump’s own administration effectively acknowledges the president may have mischaracterized the statistic.
“People are pouring into our country, including terrorists,” Trump said at a photo-op-turned-policy-debate at the White House, with Vice President Mike Pence and Congress’s top two Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York. “We captured 10 terrorists over the last very short period of time. Terrorists. These are very serious people. … These are people who were looking to do harm. We need the wall.”
View the complete December 12 article by John M Donnelly on The Roll Call website here.