Reality Check: Are Illegal Immigrants 'Pouring' Over U.S. Border?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The United States House of Representative overwhelmingly rejected a compromise immigration bill Wednesday. This comes after weeks of controversy over President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance enforcement policy.
The Trump administration reports that "zero tolerance" enforcement is necessary because illegal immigrants are suddenly surging across the border.
"We will have millions and millions of people pouring through our country, with all of the problems that would cause," Trump said.
It is true there was a surge, but it was only for one month.
May Border Arrests
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol apprehended 51,912 people in May -- a 200-percent hike over May of last year, when there were 19,940 arrests.
That is similar to previous Mays, but border arrests have been dropping for years. They are at the lowest level since 1971.
There are many other immigration claims out there that do not stand up to scrutiny, or possibly the U.S. Constitution. We are focusing on just a few. President Trump tweeted that anyone who enters the country illegally be sent home without seeing a judge and without due process.
He may have been venting, but that is against American law and international treaties.
And then there is the "Phantom 5,000" judges.
"They came in to see me last week. They said, 'We'd like to hire 5,000 more judges.' Five thousand. You ever hear of a thing like that? Judges," Trump said. "Well, we're appointing 145 judges here, and every one goes through this extreme vetting process. Talking about 5,000, where do you find 5,000 people to be judges? And you know what it leads? It leads to graft."
It is unclear who is telling the president that. There is no public request -- anywhere -- to hire 5,000 immigration judges.
There are currently 334 immigration judges on duty, and there is a bill in Congress to authorize another 350 to help clear a backlog of 720,000 cases.