Fact check recap: See where candidates used misleading info during GOP debate

The seven Republican presidential contenders who sparred at Wednesday night's debate in California largely stuck to the facts, but the evening had its share of "yeah, but" moments.

For example, former Vice President Mike Pence's claim that unemployment rates for Blacks and Hispanics reached record lows during his term failed to include that those rates kept falling under President Joe Biden – so the records were short-lived.

More: Republican debate fact check: Separating fact from fiction and explaining Nikki Haley's curtains

With former President Donald Trump once again sitting out, the candidates turned their attacks on each other, most notably when Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina claimed that Nikki Haley spent $50,000 on curtains while serving as ambassador to the United Nations.

That was false, and Haley has a correction from The New York Times to show she was not involved in the decision that predated her appointment.

Border claims center on illegal crossings, wall

Border security is one of the cornerstones of the party platform, so it was no surprise that came up early when Scott brought up how many people entered the U.S. illegally so far during Biden’s term.

Scott’s claim that there were 6 million unlawful border crossings during his presidency – a number also referenced by Haley later in the debate – was about right.

There were more than 6.2 million encounters at the southwest border since January 2021, when Biden took office, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Those illegal border crossings in September reached near-record levels, according to CBS News, and in December there were more than 250,000 of them – both the highest number during Biden’s term and the highest number ever recorded.

Those encounters include both apprehensions, when a person is taken into U.S. custody under Title 8 of the U.S. code, and expulsions, when they are immediately expelled to their home countries or most recent country without being taken into U.S. custody, according to the Pew Research Center.

One number that was a bit farther off the mark – former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s claim that Trump built 52 miles of border wall.

In reality, that depends on how it is added up.

While one count based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection data puts the total at 458 miles, many of those additions replaced existing barriers.

PolitiFact reported in August that a report from the border agency says Trump's administration built "52 miles of new primary wall systems and 33 miles of new secondary wall systems where there were none before."

But some experts say Trump's replacement barriers shouldn't be set aside because they replaced inferior barriers. The Cato Institute says nearly 200 miles of short fencing designed to stop vehicles (between 3 and 4 feet high) was replaced with 18- to 30-foot steel barriers.

Fentanyl claims center on deaths

A key reason the candidates want stronger borders is to keep fentanyl and other drugs out of the country.

Haley’s assertion that fentanyl has killed more Americans than the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq checked out.

A total of 106,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses in 2021 alone, according to the National Institutes of Health. About 70,000 of those involved synthetic opioids aside from methadone – primarily fentanyl – NIH numbers show.

By comparison, about 65,000 Americans died in those three wars.

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis brought up a child in his state who he said died after being exposed to fentanyl at an Airbnb rental property, though his description added details officials have not publicly confirmed.

Authorities say the girl, 19-month-old Enora Lavenir, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2021 while she and her family stayed at a rental property in Wellington, Florida. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by her family alleges the home was not properly cleaned after a party was held there in which fentanyl and other drugs were present, the Palm Beach Post reported.

But official reports have not yet confirmed that. The county medical examiner’s office ruled her death was due to acute fentanyl toxicity, but an incident report from the county sheriff’s office did not indicate how the toddler was exposed to the drug, according to the newspaper report.

Candidates lob claims at China, Ukraine

Candidates also left out key details at several points while discussing foreign policy.

Haley asserted that China is “stealing $600 billion in intellectual property,” a figure that reflects the high end of an estimated range in a field experts say is difficult to quantify.

Chinese intellectual property theft in 2018 cost the U.S. between $225 billion and $600 billion, according to the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property. The FBI estimated in 2019 that the annual cost of all counterfeit goods, pirated software and theft of trade secrets is between $225 billion and $600 billion.

And businessman Vivek Ramaswamy’s claim that Ukraine banned 11 opposition parties left out key information about the timing of the move.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy announced in March 2022 that his nation suspended those political parties because of their ties to Russia, as reported by The Guardian. It came a month after Russia launched its invasion of the country.

But North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s claim that China controls 85% of rare earth minerals was accurate, according to numbers from the research firm Adamas Intelligence.

Contributing: Chris Mueller, BrieAnna Frank, Brad Sylvester

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Debate fact check: See where GOP candidates used misleading info