While much has been said in the debate on U.S. immigration policy, it’s important we understand and base our decisions on the facts. We invite you to play our version of the party game, “two truths and a lie,” to test your own knowledge:

Which of the following is NOT true about the border crisis?

  1. The number of people apprehended while entering the country illegally at the Southern border each month is more than twice the population size of the average American city or town.

  2. It is rare for the President of the United States to declare a national emergency for something like the border crisis.

  3. At least 90% of all fentanyl and heroin comes through the Southern border.

Let’s break things down, one at a time:

A: Truth

The number of people apprehended entering the country illegally at the Southern border each month (47,893 in January alone) is more than twice the population size of the average American city or town (just over 20,000).

While the number of immigrants illegally crossing the Southern border is down, it is still drastically high. It is close to 50,000 per month, and over 10,000 of these are deemed inadmissible, which means they don’t qualify to get a visa or green card due to having a criminal record or other red flags.

B: Lie

A national emergency is not rare. It is just a vehicle that Congress has supplied via several statutes, such as the National Emergencies Act, to provide support to areas where and when there is a crisis.

Since 1979, 58 national emergencies have been declared by U.S. presidents. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush declared a national emergency and invoked reprogramming authority 18 times while in office. They also directed the military to assist the Department of Homeland Security in securing the Southern border.

C: Truth

Drug cartels are taking advantage of our unsecured borders. At least 90% of all fentanyl and heroin comes through the Southern border, contributing to the drug epidemic we have in the United States.

Every week, 300 Americans are killed by heroin alone. According to the White House, more than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017 alone.

There are drugs coming in through the unsecured places–not just the points of entry. The scary thing is: we have no way of knowing how many drugs got in along the open border that were not caught.

The crisis at the U.S. border is a serious issue. Read this policy brief to learn more.
And test your knowledge to see how much you know about immigration with this short series of quizzes.