US says migrant data cited by Trump was “misinterpreted” – El Universal

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assured this Saturday that the data on immigrants with a criminal history and under supervision of the country’s immigration agency, cited by the former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump and other conservative opinion leaders, are being “misunderstood.”

The data that Trump has repeated since Friday and that he reiterated this Saturday at a rally in Wisconsin were contained in a letter published in Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, in English).

According to a DHS spokesperson told EFE, “the data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country in the last 40 years or more, and whose custody determination was made a long time ago. before this Administration in its vast majority”.

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ICE supervises migrants who are in the process of deportation and, according to the letter published by the congressman, there were 662,566 “non-citizens with criminal records” in his database detained currently by the agency or without being detained, which Trump had echoed.

The spokesperson indicated that the data in the letter raised by the candidate is out of context, as it “includes many (immigrants) who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by partners of federal, state or local law enforcement.”

The data was used by Trump or by opinion leaders such as the billionaire Elon Muskwhich today shared a Fox News segment on DHS.

The Republican candidate has assured that if he wins the elections, he will take tough measures against immigrants. Photo: Archive / EL UNIVERSAL

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Trump used this data this Saturday to fuel fear of irregular immigrants at a rally in Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin), a town that recently experienced a case of violence by an alleged member of the Venezuelan gang of the Aragua Train.

“Yesterday we finally saw the numbers (on immigration and crime), although the fake media turns off the cameras when I say it. They don’t want anyone to know,” Trump said at his rally, despite the fact that several studies from American universities have shown that the rate of crime among immigrants is lower than in the general population.

The politician once again used immigration as an electoral weapon to accuse the Democratic side of opening the border with Mexico and, specifically, his rival, the vice president. Kamala Harrisof allowing the country to be filled with “criminals” and “animals.”

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“Today, I make this promise before you: I will liberate Wisconsin from this massive migrant invasion of murderers, rapistsruffians, drug dealers and evil gang members, we are going to liberate our country,” he said, growing up before a cheering crowd.

As of August 2024, the State Department has deportee or rejected more than 700,000 people in the previous 12 months, the highest annual number since 2010, and since the presidential proclamation last June some 140,000 have been returned to more than 144 countries, including repatriation flights.

Since January 2021, when the Democrat’s term began Joe Bidenthat agency has expelled 180,000 non-Americans with criminal convictions from the United States.

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