RNC Day 2: Fact-checking Kari Lake, Nikki Haley's claims on Biden's immigration record
MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention’s second night sounded false alarms about a Democratic plot to turn migrants into voters and invocations of divine intervention in preventing former President Donald Trump’s assassination.
The party offered a lineup of Senate candidates and Americans who said President Joe Biden’s immigration and crime policies contributed to their loved ones’ deaths. Some speakers swiped at Vice President Kamala Harris, often mispronouncing her first name by emphasizing its second syllable and mocking her as the "border czar," which exaggerated the scope of her authority.
With Democrats divided over whether Biden should remain as their nominee, Republicans displayed party unity, with speeches from former Trump primary rivals Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Trump administration officials Dr. Ben Carson and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders credited the hand of God in saving Trump’s life from an assassination attempt.
Here are fact-checks of claims about immigration from Day 2.
Kari Lake, Arizona Senate candidate: "Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election."
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego D-Ariz., did not vote to allow millions of people in the country illegally to vote in the 2024 election. Federal law already bans noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Gallego voted against the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which requires people to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
When Gallego voted against the bill, he said in a statement, "Of course only U.S. citizens should vote." Gallego said the bill would create obstacles for Arizonans to vote because of the requirements to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.: "On the border, Biden and Harris opened it up to the entire world. Prisons are being emptied."
False.
The U.S. southern border is not open. A combination of hundreds of physical barriers such as fences, surveillance technology, drones and about 20,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents help limit who and what comes into the United States. Additionally, immigration officials at the border continue to enforce immigration law.
U.S. immigration officials have arrested people with criminal convictions at the border, but there is no evidence that prisons are being emptied or that foreign countries are sending prisoners to the U.S.
Immigration officials arrested about 110,000 noncitizens with criminal convictions (whether in the U.S. or abroad) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal data shows. That accounts for people stopped at and between ports of entry. (This data includes about four months of Trump’s administration.)
Not everyone was let in. The term "noncitizens" includes people who may have had legal immigration status in the U.S. but were not U.S. citizens. The data reflects the people that the federal government knows about, but it’s inexhaustive. Some countries don’t share their criminal databases with the U.S. However, immigration experts previously told PolitiFact that despite the data’s limitations, there is no evidence to support the statement.
Nikki Haley, former Republican presidential candidate: "Kamala had one job, one job. And that was to fix the border."
Mostly False.
In March 2021, President Joe Biden tasked Harris to work with officials in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to address the root causes motivating people to migrate to the United States.
"One of the ways we learned is that if you deal with the problems in a country, it benefits everyone. It benefits us, it benefits the people, and it grows the economies there," Biden said at a March 2021 meeting with Harris.
Republicans began calling Harris the "border czar" soon after that.
In April 2021, when a reporter asked Harris whether she would visit the border, she clarified that her role was not managing the border.
"The president has asked (Homeland Security) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border. And he has been working very hard at that, and it’s showing some progress because of his hard work," Harris said at a roundtable. "I have been asked to lead the issue of dealing with root causes in the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), similar to what the then-vice president did many years ago."
Harris reiterated this duty in June 2021, when she visited the border in El Paso, Texas, with Mayorkas. In comments to reporters, Harris said she was addressing "the root causes of migration, predominantly out of Central America." Mayorkas, meanwhile, said, "It is my responsibility as the Secretary of Homeland Security to address the security and management of our border."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R- Ark.: "Joe Biden gave migrants welfare, free hotels."
Mostly False.
Most immigrants living illegally in the U.S. are ineligible for benefits from federal programs. A valid Social Security number is needed to receive most federal benefits.
Migrants are eligible for emergency medical care, and some women and children may qualify for food assistance. Additionally, certain immigrants in the U.S. illegally may qualify for state and local public assistance programs. But this type of medical and state assistance predates Biden’s presidency.
Certain nonprofit organizations provide shelter for migrants. These services can then be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The use of hotels near the border to house migrants did not begin with Biden. Previous administrations, including Trump’s, have used hotel rooms to house children and families who enter the country illegally.
FEMA has been reimbursing nonprofits for their services to migrants since 2019 when Trump’s administration, during an uptick in immigration apprehensions, requested funding to go to migrant support services.
DHS coordinates with nonprofits "to avoid, to the greatest extent possible, releasing noncitizens directly into border communities without immediate support," a 2023 Government Accountability Office report said.
In 2021, the Biden administration entered a short-term contract with a Texas nonprofit organization to use hotel rooms to provide temporary shelter and case processing to migrant families. Under U.S. laws and a court settlement, immigration officials cannot detain minors, including those traveling with families.
Anne Fundner, California mother: "We have seen the highest number of fentanyl deaths during the Biden-Harris administration."
True.
Drug overdose deaths have reached new highs during the Biden administration, a continuation of a trend that started under Barack Obama and continued under Trump. Fundner’s 15-year-old son, Weston, died from a fentanyl overdose in February 2022, she told the crowd.
National Institute on Drug Abuse data shows more than 73,800 overdose deaths from nonmethadone synthetic opioids — mostly fentanyl — in 2022. In 2020, the year before Biden took office, 56,516 people died from these overdoses. There were 3,105 in 2013.
Fundner blamed "open borders" for her son’s death. Fentanyl is smuggled mostly through official ports of entry, and not by immigrants at illegal crossing points.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: RNC Day 2: PolitiFact checks claims on Biden's immigration record
