PolitiFact.com
Statements about Border Security
Veronica Escobar

Veronica Escobar

Half-True

Caution advised

Says El Paso is the "safest city of our size in the nation."

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Half-True

Muddier than said

Says "we" have put more boots on the U.S.-Mexico border "than at any time in our history, and illegal crossings are down by nearly 80 percent from their peak in 2000."

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

Pants on Fire!

Check 'in' box

Says he has "yet to get a response" from Barack Obama to his August 2010 letter making border security requests.

Louie Gohmert

Louie Gohmert

False

Speculative

Says al Qaeda has camps with the drug cartels in Mexico.

Wayne LaPierre

Wayne LaPierre

Mostly False

There. Is. A. Fence.

"The president flagrantly defies the 2006 federal law ordering the construction of a secure border fence along the entire Mexican border."

David Dewhurst

David Dewhurst

True

Brush country beacons

Says he has seen Border Patrol signs near the Mexico border in English, Spanish and Chinese.

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz

Mostly True

Also mentioned border security

Says David Dewhurst "explicitly advocated" a guest worker program for all illegal immigrants.

Reince Priebus

Reince Priebus

Mostly True

True, but GOP blocked key bill

Says President Barack Obama promised a "pathway to citizenship" to undocumented immigrants and "didn't deliver jack squat on any of it."

Ryan Downton

Ryan Downton

Half-True

Work opportunity, no path to citizenship

Says Paul Workman authored legislation providing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Chain email

Chain email

Pants on Fire!

Not five days ago, not near Arizona

"Why was there no news coverage of this raid on the Arizona border? … Seizure was just five days ago. Right on the Arizona border!"

Chain email

Chain email

Pants on Fire!

Led by Admiral Ginger Rogers

Says Texas retained the right to have a navy when it joined the United States.

David Dewhurst

David Dewhurst

False

Guns were there, but ballistics report inconclusive

"Ballistic tests have confirmed that the death of at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent was caused by" weapons that were part of a federal arms trafficking operation.

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Mostly False

Evidence is flimsy

"We have, right now, Hezbollah, which is working throughout Latin America, in Venezuela, in Mexico, throughout Latin America, which poses a very significant and imminent threat to the United States of America."

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

Mostly False

$400 million isn't Rangers alone

"I have sent over $400 million to the border of Mexico in the form of Texas Ranger recon teams."

David Quiroa

David Quiroa

True

From 2002-2003

"Under Governor Almond the RI DMV had a program that allowed undocumented [people to] use their Personal Tax Identification Number . . . to apply [for] and receive a RI driver’s license."

Jose Rodriguez

Jose Rodriguez

Mostly False

Two swinging strikes

Says El Paso was named America’s "Safest Large City" a year after San Antonio, Houston and Dallas had the nation’s highest crime rates.

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

Pants on Fire!

More U.S. agents than ever patrol the border

"The federal government has not engaged in (border security) at all."

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

Mostly True

That was the tone, but never said safer than ever

Says that when President Obama visited El Paso, he "pronounced that the border with Mexico and the United States was safer than it ever was in history."

Janet Napolitano

Janet Napolitano

Half-True

Recently, yes. But that's not saying much

"We have seized more currency, more drugs, more outbound arms in the past year than any year in our country’s history."

Louie Gohmert

Louie Gohmert

False

No request to feds, no one on their knees

Says Gov. Rick Perry has been "begging" for the federal government to send the Coast Guard to patrol two lakes on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Advertisement
How to contact us:

We want to hear your suggestions and comments. For tips or comments on our campaign promise database, please e-mail the Obameter. If you are commenting on a specific promise, please include the promise number. For comments about our Truth-O-Meter or Flip-O-Meter items, please e-mail the Truth-O-Meter. We’re especially interested in seeing any chain e-mails you receive that you would like us to check out. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.

Browse the The Truth-O-MeterTM:
Browse The Obameter:
Subscribe:

Keep up to date with Politifact National: