Current:Home > reviewsHow Trump credits an immigration chart for saving his life and what the graphic is missing -AssetScope
How Trump credits an immigration chart for saving his life and what the graphic is missing
View
Date:2025-04-12 20:51:13
Ever since the assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump has professed a unique fondness for a bar chart he credits for saving his life.
Trump was addressing the crowd in Butler about illegal immigration and reviewing a chart that detailed U.S.-Mexico border crossings during his administration and President Joe Biden’s term. Trump had his head turned to the right to review the graphic on a projection screen when the gunfire began. One bullet nicked his right ear.
He has said having his head turned “probably saved my life,” that he loves the chart “more than I even love the police” and that he will “sleep with that chart for the rest of my life.” He has made it a recurring campaign prop and is likely to show it again when he returns to Butler on Saturday.
The chart helps the Republican presidential nominee connect a defining moment from his 2024 campaign to his signature issue since he entered politics. It also is representative of how the Trump campaign has addressed immigration, making a strident argument for tougher border measures while erasing or misstating key parts of his record.
Here are more details about the chart and how Trump has used it.
A senator gave Trump the chart while on his plane
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he was aboard Trump’s plane in April to hitch a ride from an Easter family holiday in Florida to campaign events in the Midwest. While on the flight, Johnson showed Trump the chart, which depicts a dramatic increase in encounters with migrants at the southern border using statistics that are tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol.
Trump asked Johnson to send it to his communications team, which changed the title, description and edited some of the annotations, to begin rolling it out that same day at an event with law enforcement officers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At that event, Trump referred to people in the U.S. illegally who are suspected of committing crimes as “animals.”
“It’s obvious what the Biden administration has done in that chart. It shows what Trump had to deal with and how he successfully dealt with it,” Johnson said in an interview. “And then it shows just the explosion of illegal immigration under President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris.”
Border crossings hit record highs during the Biden administration but have fallen since Biden instituted a curb on asylum claims by executive order earlier this year.
Harris’ presidential campaign blames Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress not to support a bipartisan border security package that Democrats say would have helped fix a broken immigration system.
The chart shows border crossings hit record highs
The Border Patrol has tallied about 7.1 million arrests of people crossing illegally from Mexico from the start of the Biden administration through July, but many of those arrests were repeat crossers. Trump regularly hammers Biden and Harris for allowing record-high numbers, often claiming without evidence that the figure is upward of 30 million.
The chart notes policies Trump instituted such as “Remain in Mexico,” a program that makes asylum seekers wait south of the border that Biden halted when he took office. The policies are intended to show Trump drove down border crossings during his term.
The description of the chart says “Biden world record illegal immigrants, many from prisons and mental institutions,” a claim Trump usually makes in rallies even though there is no evidence countries are sending their criminals or mentally ill across the border.
The chart leaves out family separation
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
The graphic incorrectly identifies the month Trump left office, marking it as if it had happened during the spring of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic prompted travel restrictions and vastly lowered the number of arrivals. Before the pandemic, the Trump administration struggled to manage large influxes of migrants, too.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., showed the chart recently at a hearing in Congress to point out this error.
“It’s important to note and to point out how incorrect it actually is,” he said, as he pointed out that border encounters had started to trend upwards in the months that followed and while Trump was still in office.
The chart also leaves out what perhaps was Trump’s most controversial immigration policy. Between 2017 and 2018, border agents separated children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in a policy that was condemned globally as inhumane and one that Trump himself halted under pressure from his own party.
Trump rarely talks about family separation. Last weekend, Trump claimed not to understand what Harris meant when she said he was responsible for taking children from their parents.
The former president has pledged to conduct the largest mass deportation operation, prioritizing migrants with criminal records. Trump has said he could rely on like-minded governors to provide National Guard support to carry out deportations.
Trump frequently shows the chart
The chart was displayed on numerous screens on stage during his Republican National Convention speech less than a week after the Butler rally.
“The last time I put up that chart, I never really got to look at it,” he said. “But without that chart, I would not be here today.”
Trump also took the chart on his recent border visit to Arizona, displaying it on a piece of paper as he spoke from a podium below a desert hill. He has been using it increasingly more since the assassination attempt, often retelling the story of how it saved his life.
Johnson says he is happy to have played “a small little role.”
“Either the hand of God or just plain serendipity is why he avoided being assassinated, quite honestly,” he said. “That’s just the historical fact now.”
He wouldn’t say if Trump has mentioned anything about the chart to him since the assassination attempt. “Those are private conversations,” he said.
veryGood! (55314)
Related
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Yes, Glitter Freckles Are a Thing: Here's Where to Get 'Em for Football or Halloween
- Voting systems have been under attack since 2020, but are tested regularly for accuracy and security
- Not everything will run perfectly on Election Day. Still, US elections are remarkably reliable
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- How will Hurricane Milton stack up against other major recent storms?
- Meryl Streep, Melissa McCarthy shock 'Only Murders' co-stars, ditch stunt doubles for brawl
- Angel Dreamer Wealth Society: Conveying the Power of Dreams through Action
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- Angel Dreamer Wealth Society: Insight into Market Trends, Mastering the Future of Wealth
Ranking
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- When do new episodes of 'Outer Banks' come out? Season 4 release date, cast, where to watch
- What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?
- Chrishell Stause and Paige DeSorbo Use These Teeth Whitening Strips: Score 35% Off on Prime Day
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Opinion: Karma is destroying quarterback Deshaun Watson and Cleveland Browns
- Want to follow election results like a pro? Here’s what to watch in key states
- How AP uses expected vote instead of ‘precincts reporting’ when determining a winner
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
Tennis star Frances Tiafoe curses out umpire after Shanghai loss, later apologizes
Yes, Glitter Freckles Are a Thing: Here's Where to Get 'Em for Football or Halloween
Kelly Ripa Reveals Mark Consuelos' Irritated Reaction to Her Kicking Him in the Crotch
Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
AP Elections Top 25: The people, places, races, dates and things to know about Election Day
Second minor league umpire sues MLB, alleges firing was retaliation for sexual assault complaint
CBS News says Trump campaign had ‘shifting explanations’ for why he snubbed ’60 Minutes’