Fact check: Trump says Hamas militants 'pouring' across U.S. southern border
In an Oct. 9 post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump said: "The same people that raided Israel are pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our totally open southern border, at record numbers."
Posted — UpdatedFormer President Donald Trump made the egregious claim that the perpetrators of the violent attacks on Israel, are entering the U.S. through the southern border.
Trump’s statement leaves the impression that Hamas militants — the terrorist group in Gaza that attacked Israel — are crossing the border in Mexico into the United States.
Terrorism experts told us that there is no proof to back up that claim. And a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said there is no intelligence to signal a threat to the U.S. from Hamas.
"There is no credible evidence of Hamas on the southern border of the United States," said Jason M. Blazakis, director of the Middlebury College’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism.
No evidence that Hamas militants crossing southern border
"There is no truth" to Trump’s claim about Hamas militants "pouring" across the U.S. southern border, said David Bier, an immigration expert at the libertarian Cato Institute.
During the nearly five-decade span, four were from Palestine, and the most recent attempted attack was in 1997. Nowrasteh told PolitiFact that as far as he knew, none of the attackers were part of Hamas. The largest group executing an attack on U.S. soil came from Saudi Arabia — the 9/11 terrorists.
Experts said there is some evidence of Middle East terrorist groups operating in Latin America. But the experts added that they had not seen evidence that Hamas had crossed the U.S. southern border.
Republicans misleadingly pivot to U.S. border security
But experts said that Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel cannot be looked at through the lens of U.S. border security.
"They both involve borders, but the comparison ends there," Bier said. "People aren’t crossing the border to conduct terrorist attacks or take over parts of the United States. A very small percentage may come to commit ordinary crimes, like selling drugs, but overwhelmingly, they are coming for economic opportunity and freedom."
There is not a terrorist movement in Mexico, Central America or South America that targets the U.S. or in any way compares with Hamas targeting Israel, Nowrasteh said.
"It’s just a radically different security environment," Nowrasteh said.
Blazakis, of Middlebury College, said the comparison was a "false analogy."
"The vast majority of people who are at the southern border are trying to escape criminal gangs and drug trafficking organization violence," he said.
Terrorist watch list isn’t an indicator of a threat
The number of times immigration officials have encountered people on the terrorist watchlist at the U.S. southern border has risen in the past two years. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports this data annually but doesn’t include the nationality of people on the list.
PolitiFact ruling
Trump said, "the same people that raided Israel are pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our TOTALLY OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER, at Record Numbers."
The onus is on Trump to prove his claim, and he provided no evidence to support it.
Terrorism experts told us that there is no evidence that Hamas, a terrorist group in Gaza, has militants crossing the Mexico-U.S. border, much less in record numbers. And a DHS spokesperson said there is no credible intelligence to signal a threat to the U.S. from Hamas.
The southern border is not open for everyone to come in. Barriers, detection technology and immigration agents limit who and what can enter the country.
We rate Trump's statement Pants on Fire!
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