There’s just over a week left before the Nov. 8 election. So, in the time that remains, PolitiFact Georgia will be looking at how Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have fared on fact-checks about major issues in the race for president of the United States.
Today we look at their statements on immigration.
Want to see how they fared? Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Hillary Clinton Thursday, October 20th, 2016 in a debate:
Says Donald Trump used undocumented labor to build the Trump Tower.
There’s no question that undocumented workers were hired to do demolition work on the future site of Trump Tower.
Questions remain as to how involved Trump was in the construction process and hiring of the 200 Polish laborers, but Clinton is factually correct to say that undocumented labor helped construct Trump’s New York skyscraper.
We rated Clinton’s statement as True.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 in a speech in Arizona:
“Within just a few years, immigration as a share of national population is set to break all historical records.”
Historic data and projections suggest the foreign-born population is rising. A new record could be reached in about seven years, according to Census Bureau estimates.
Experts also say projections are based assuming future immigration exceeds current pace. At current levels, it may take longer.
Trump didn’t specify in how many years the record would be broken, but data points to a probable new record in fewer than 10 years.
We rated Trump’s statement Mostly True.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 in the third 2016 presidential debate:
Says Hillary Clinton “wanted the wall.”
The Trump campaign cited Clinton’s vote for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, signed into law by President George W. Bush, which authorized about 700 miles of fencing to be installed along the country’s southern border, along with other security measures. It was the beginning of an attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
So it’s fair to say Clinton supported a barrier. For our purposes, the differences between a wall and a fence in this claim are not significant — both block people.
But the fence Clinton backed is not as extensive as the wall Trump is promoting. And in his phrasing, Trump equated the two.
Clinton voted for 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, but not for the taller, longer concrete wall that he vows to build.
The statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context.
We rated Trump’s statement Half True.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 in a speech:
Says “Hillary Clinton has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare for illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget.”
Her plan doesn’t “provide” Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare to immigrants. They’ll have to pay into the system to get those benefits just like everybody else.
In the case of Social Security and Medicare, it would be at least a decade — perhaps several — before they get any benefits.
In the case of Obamacare, even if all 11 million undocumented immigrants were so poor they qualified for Medicaid, it would not “break” the $4 trillion federal budget. But Clinton has said they would not automatically be eligible for Medicaid or subsidies.
We rated Trump’s statement Mostly False.
Hillary Clinton on Friday, August 5th, 2016 in remarks at journalists’ convention:
Undocumented immigrants “pay $12 billion a year into Social Security.”
The Social Security Administration estimates about $12 billion was paid into the administration’s trust funds from earnings of unauthorized workers in 2010 (after deducting about $1 billion from possible benefits paid out). This number includes contributions on behalf of employees as well as their employers. Workers and employers pony up about the same amount into the system.
A calculation by another group excluded employer contributions and came up with a total of $7 billion paid into the system by undocumented immigrants.
Clinton’s statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details.
We rated Clinton’s statement Half True.
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