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FACT BRIEF

Did illegal immigration drop 90% under Donald Trump?

By Tom Kertscher
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NO

Illegal immigration increased while Donald Trump was president. It did not decrease 90% as Wisconsin Republican Tony Wied claimed July 19, 2024.

Wied is running for the Green Bay-area U.S. House seat. His campaign cited a complicated chart on U.S.-Mexico border encounters that Trump has used at rallies, but did not identify what would back Wied’s claim.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has said his staff developed the chart and Trump modified it. Johnson’s office did not reply to questions.

News reports have repeatedly discredited Trump’s chart, noting the low point for border encounters is in April 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southwest border encounters decreased 43% in 2017, the first year Trump was in office.

But they were higher in each of the next three years than in 2016, including 80% higher in 2019:

2016: 442,940

2017: 250,838

2018: 466,624

2019: 799,674

2020: 508,214

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
WLUK-TV FOX 11 8th Congressional District Republican primary debate
Google Docs Trump immigration chart cited by Wied campaign
X (formerly Twitter) Sen. Ron Johnson post
ABC News Dissecting the immigration chart Trump says saved his life
FactCheck.org Trump’s Misleading Chart on Illegal Immigration
Washington Post A look at Trump’s misleading, inaccurate graph of U.S. immigration
New York Times Fact-Checking the Immigration Chart That Trump Says ‘Saved My Life’
Google Docs Monthly Southwest Border apprehensions under Trump
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.