Recent claims PolitiFact checked out included the Albany, N.Y. mayor's comment that being in the U.S. without documentation is not a crime; Attorney General Jeff Sessions' characterization of rising crime rates; and President Trump's statement that Congress has long held that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Here are summaries of our findings. Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com.
“Simply being in this country without documentation is not a crime”
— Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 in an interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”
When Sheehan said it’s not a crime for immigrants to live in the U.S. without documentation, she cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in “Arizona v. the United States.” The Obama administration contended Arizona could not create a state-level criminal charge for the violation because it’s already regulated by Congress. The Supreme Court agreed and struck down that section of the Arizona law, among other parts.
“What the Supreme Court said in Arizona v. U.S. is that generally being unlawfully present in the U.S. is not a crime, and that’s definitely true,” one law professor said. “What the court did, is say Congress had made these civil violations and Arizona is trying to make them criminal violations.”
Our ruling
It may be semantics, but Sheehan is right. Living in the U.S. without documentation is a civil violation, not a crime. As an earlier PolitiFact fact check noted, however, those in the U.S. without documentation may have committed a crime by entering the country illegally.
But their illegal presence is not a crime.
Sheehan's statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it Mostly True.
“The violent crime rate has risen, and the homicide rate has risen by more than 20 percent in just two years, really after 30 years of decline in violent crime.”
— Jeff Sessions on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017 in public testimony before Congress
Sessions’ numbers are accurate, but his focus on the more recent years doesn’t show the full picture.
On average, for the past 30 years violent crime has been declining. In 1986, the violent crime rate was 620 violent crimes per 100,000 people. In 1991, it increased to 758, the highest it has been since 1960.
“For 15 to 20 years both the violent and nonviolent crime rates as measured by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) have been dropping like a rock. It is now at the level of the early 1950s. It is very low,” said Alan Lizotte, a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, in email correspondence with PolitiFact.
Our ruling
Sessions' remark is accurate, but it needs additional information. The murder rate spike is driven by a small increase in cases, and is still well below historical highs. Experts say the increasing murder rate may be the start of a trend, or could be a random increase before a return to historic lows. We rate the statement Mostly True.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act “passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.”
— President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 in remarks at the White House
Trump is on solid ground about the legislation. In the Senate, the bill passed on Oct. 24, 1995, by a 93-5 margin. Later that day, the House followed suit, passing it by a 374-37 margin.
Trump’s statement that the law was “reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago” requires more explanation.
The non-binding resolution this year "reaffirms the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–45) as United States law, and calls upon the President and all United States officials to abide by its provisions." On June 5, 2017, the Senate passed it 90-0.
Here’s the caveat: The same resolution also says: The Senate “reaffirms that it is the longstanding, bipartisan policy of the United States government that the permanent status of Jerusalem remains a matter to be decided between the parties through final status negotiations towards a two-state solution.” Trump himself also emphasized that point in his remarks.
Our ruling
Trump is right about both pieces of legislation and the margins by which they passed. It’s worth noting that the 2017 Senate resolution also reaffirmed that “the permanent status of Jerusalem remains a matter to be decided between the parties through final status negotiations towards a two-state solution” — a position that Trump rhetorically backed in his speech, but that some believe could be endangered by his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy.
We rate the statement Mostly True.
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