PolitiFact last week looked at claims by President Donald Trump and Rep. Nancy Pelosi on public sentiment about immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children, and Trump's claim about U.S. job growth and companies returning jobs to the U.S. Summaries of our findings are here. Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com.
Says “92 percent of the people agree on DACA.”
— Donald Trump on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017 in remarks to reporters
We did not find a poll showing support as high as the president said for a solution for DACA recipients, but several polls do show that the majority of Americans want a favorable outcome for “Dreamers,” those immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children.
Several polling and public opinion experts we reached out to say they were not aware of any recent poll showing a 92 percent support for DACA, but a solid majority does seem to favor the program.
Our ruling
We found several polls in which a majority said they supported DACA or favored legislation that would allow Dreamers to stay in the United States. But the level of support was not as high as 92 percent.
Overall, we rate Trump's statement Half True.
“Seventy-six percent of the American people support us passing the DREAM Act … with citizenship and legalization as part of it all. … More than 60 percent of Republicans support that.”
— Nancy Pelosi on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017 in a speech at Sacramento State University
Pelosi's spokesman pointed to a Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted Aug. 31 through Sept. 3, 2017 with responses from nearly 2,000 registered voters. The questions didn't mention the DREAM Act specifically, but one asked: "As you may know, Dreamers are young people who were brought to the United States illegally when they were children, often with their parents. Which of the following do you think is the best way to handle Dreamers?"
• 58 percent said Dreamers “should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements.”
• 18 percent said Dreamers “should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but NOT citizens, if they meet certain requirements.”
Combined, this totals the 76 percent Pelosi cited.
One expert on public opinion polling said there haven’t been many recent surveys specifically on the DREAM Act but other polling has shown “general support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.”
The expert cautioned: “Since wording can affect answers on this subject, politicians can pick and choose the numbers they want to cite, the ones that make the strongest case for their position.”
Our rating
A poll this month backs up Pelosi’s number, as does an April 2017 poll by the same group. Gallup polls from recent years show increasing support for the key points of the DREAM Act. Additional surveys show about two-thirds to three-quarters of respondents have backed a path to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally, under certain conditions.
Pelosi's claim is backed up by the polling. We rate it True.
“Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time.”
— Donald Trump on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017 in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly
We found that Trump exaggerated the job growth (it’s not unprecedented), but he has a point about companies moving back to the country.
The monthly gains since Trump became president don’t look much different from the gains under President Barack Obama starting in 2011.
On jobs created by companies moving to the United States, Trump has a stronger point.
A group called the Reshoring Initiative has been collecting data since 2010 on “reshoring,” a combination of U.S. companies bringing jobs back, and foreign companies deciding to locate jobs here. According to the group, reshoring started going up substantially beginning in the fourth quarter of 2016 and has accelerated in 2017.
Our ruling
Overall, job growth is strong, particularly this long after the recession, but the gains are not much different (and maybe a little worse) than they were during the last six years of Obama's tenure. However, there is evidence that the number of jobs caused by "companies moving back" has increased under Trump, and one reason may be Trump's promises, both of the carrot and stick variety. On balance, we rate the statement Half True.
About the Author
