Ad Watch: Trump ad mischaracterizes immigration data, Harris’ remarks on decriminalizing immigration

In a 30-second campaign ad, a narrator tells voters that former President Donald Trump warned them about criminal immigrants.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has connected immigrants crossing the U.S. southern border to crime even though violent crime is down in the U.S., and studies show that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens.

"The Biden-Harris administration just admitted that they released thousands of illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes," the ad’s narrator says. "Kamala lied."

The ad, posted by Trump Oct. 21 on his Truth Social account, shows a 2017 clip of Vice President Kamala Harris saying "an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal."

The rest of the ad shows years-old clips of Harris making similar comments. In the foreground, news headlines of immigrants arrested for crimes appear. 

"They released murderers, human traffickers, rapists," the narrator says. "All released under Kamala."

On screen, viewers see a Department of Homeland Security logo along with the number of people "released" for each crime: "13,099 murderers released," "2,521 traffickers released" and "15,811 rapists released."

But the ad is wrong to say the Biden-Harris administration has released all of them into the U.S. It also takes Harris’ comments out of context; she wasn’t speaking about immigrants convicted of crimes.

Here’s what Immigration and Customs Enforcement data says about immigrants convicted of crimes, and what Harris has previously said about immigrants being criminals.

A Sept. 25 letter Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner wrote to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, reveals a new official count of immigrants convicted of crimes who are in the U.S. 

According to the letter, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s "national docket" lists 435,719 immigrants who were convicted of crimes. That includes people who are in immigration detention and people who are not. Most of these immigrants likely didn’t enter the U.S. in the last three and a half years; the full data goes back 40 years, the Department of Homeland Security told PolitiFact in September. 

Many of them are in federal, state or local law enforcement custody, serving time in prison, the Homeland Security statement said. 

There are 13,099 noncitizens convicted of homicide, 2,521 convicted of kidnapping and 15,811 convicted of sexual assault who are not currently in immigration detention. The Trump ad characterizes these numbers as representing people "released" from custody, but those numbers include people in state or local custody. Just because they’re not in federal immigration detention doesn’t mean they’re roaming the country freely.

After immigrants illegally in the country are released from law enforcement custody, they generally go into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. However, people from countries that do not accept deportation flights must be released into the U.S. That’s because a 2001 Supreme Court ruling said people cannot be indefinitely in immigration detention.

Not everyone on the list entered the U.S. illegally. Legal permanent residents convicted of crimes can also be included.

Being in the U.S. without documentation is a civil, not criminal offense; crossing the U.S. border illegally is a criminal violation. 

In 2019, as she ran for president, Harris raised her hand at a Democratic presidential debate when a moderator asked candidates who thought crossing the border without documentation should be a civil, not criminal offense. The conversation about decriminalizing illegal immigration then revolved around Trump’s "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, which led to the separation of thousands of children and parents arriving together at U.S. borders as parents were referred for prosecution.

Harris has changed her position. In an Oct. 16 interview with Fox News, Harris said she does not support decriminalizing illegal border crossings.

"​​I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings, and I have not done that as vice president. I will not do that as president," Harris said.

The 2017 clip in Trump’s ad shows Harris as a U.S. senator from California speaking about Trump’s immigration actions, including an executive order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days. The ad focuses on these words Harris said Feb. 16, 2017: "An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal." But that takes Harris’ comments out of context, implying she does not believe immigrants who commit crimes are criminals. Harris was speaking against actions she said label all immigrants as criminals. 

"There’s no question those who commit crimes must face severe and swift consequences and accountability," Harris said immediately after the sound bite in the ad. "But the truth is, the vast majority of immigrants in the country are hardworking people who deserve a pathway to citizenship."