New Donald Trump ad includes debunked claims on immigration, fentanyl

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is out with a new ad offering not-so-fresh attacks in a newly refreshed presidential contest.

The ad, which will run in six battleground states — the campaign did not specify which — focuses on several common GOP critiques that had been leveled squarely at President Joe Biden. With Biden now out of the race, the critiques remain largely the same, but the target is now Biden’s No. 2, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to become the Democratic Party’s official nominee in the coming weeks.

The ad opens with a voiceover of a male narrator describing Harris as “America’s border czar,” and claiming that “she’s failed us.” It shows Harris wearing a multicolored neon blouse dancing at an outdoor event surrounded by other people of color — Harris is Black and Southeast Asian.

The narrator then goes on to list a host of claims against Harris.

“Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here; a quarter of a million Americans dead from fentanyl; brutal migrant crimes; and ISIS now here,” the ad says. It ends with a declaration that Harris is “failed, weak, dangerously liberal.”

Most of the claims have been fact-checked before based on either exact or similar iterations of the claims.

On the “10 million illegally here” claim, PolitiFact recently weighed in, noting that there have been 8.7 million migrant encounters since Biden took office at the beginning of 2021. However, such encounters often include interactions with the same person more than once, meaning even the 8.7 million number is likely more than the actual number of border crossings that have occurred since Biden took office.

The ad also mentions “brutal migrant crimes.” This too has been addressed in numerous fact checks and studies. The Brennan Center for Justice outlined several studies that debunk claims that migrants are bringing with them a wave of crime.

One notes that undocumented immigrants were 33% less likely to be incarcerated than natural-born U.S. citizens. Another study from Texas the group cited found that undocumented immigrants were 47% less likely to be convicted of a crime in 2017 than natural-born citizens. That’s just two of many examples of similar findings.

Another immigration-related claim that has been flagged for added context in various fact checks involves the ad’s claim that ISIS is “now here.”

The ISIS claim likely stems from reports last month that the Department of Homeland Security had identified more than 400 immigrants from Central Asia and other places who entered the U.S. as “subjects of concern” because they were brought here by ISIS-affiliated smugglers, according to NBC News. Of those, 150 have been arrested and about 50 of them had unknown whereabouts. The report noted that officials didn’t know whether the smuggling activity directly funds ISIS.

And on fentanyl, a USA Facts analysis of fentanyl overdoses indeed cites the quarter million number referenced in Trump’s ad, but that includes 2018, 2019 and 2020, all years for which Trump was in office.

Further, an AP fact check of similar claims made by the Trump campaign and/or other Republicans found that while most fentanyl is indeed smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, fentanyl trafficking crimes were overwhelmingly committed by U.S. citizens in the 12 months running up to last September.

Still, the issues, which most Americans have indicated through various polls are important, are front and center in not just Trump’s campaign for the top of the ticket, but in down-ballot campaigns for congressional and legislative seats.