Cotton Distorts Border Apprehension Impact
Sen. Tom Cotton falsely equated the nearly 2 million apprehensions of immigrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border during Joe Biden’s presidency to “adding the entire population of Nebraska to this country.” He’s wrong for several reasons, including that most of those apprehended were immediately turned around.
“People who are not well informed about immigration trends and policies sometimes conflate apprehensions with successful unauthorized entries into the United States,” Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit that says it seeks to improve immigration policies through research and analysis, told us in an email. “Apprehensions represent actions taken by Customs and Border Protection officials to intercept unauthorized arrivals. And it also bears noting that apprehensions are events, not individuals. So, one person who attempts illegal entry three times counts as three apprehensions.”
Cotton’s claim came Jan. 30 in response to a question on “Fox News Sunday” from some Republicans that Biden ought to focus more on the U.S. border with Mexico.
