FACT CHECK: 3 Claims From Trump’s Rally In Ohio
President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
Here are three checks on his claims.
Claim 1: “Listen to this – 127,000 aliens with criminal records were thrown out last year or put in prison by ICE.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prioritizes the arrest of convicted aliens, as well as those charged with criminal offenses.
The agency performed more than 143,000 arrests in fiscal year 2017. Of these, about 106,000, or 74 percent, were for aliens with criminal convictions. Another 22,000 involved aliens facing criminal charges.
ICE most frequently arrested aliens with traffic-related charges or convictions, including driving under the influence. Other offenses were commonly related to drugs, immigration, assault and theft.
The number of criminal aliens arrested rose 12 percent over FY 2016 levels.
Claim 2: On Richard Cordray, the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio: “We actually, essentially fired him, so, I mean – I know a lot about him. You’re fired.”
Cordray stepped down as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November 2017, although it’s not clear that Trump pressured him to resign. It was widely rumored at the time that Cordray would run for governor of Ohio, and he had until February 2018 to file with the state.
Trump reportedly considered firing him, but feared that doing so would make Cordray, a holdover from the Obama administration, a “martyr” for the left.
Republicans had long called for Cordray to be removed from the post. “It’s time to fire King Richard,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse tweeted in January 2017.
Yet Cordray remained in the position nearly a year into Trump’s presidency. He resigned weeks after Republicans in Congress struck down an agency rule that would have made it easier for consumers to sue banks.
Claim 3: “I love Ohio – maybe that’s why we won it by so much. Remember?”
Trump won Ohio by an 8 point margin. He earned 51.7 percent of the vote, compared to 43.6 percent for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won 3.2 percent of the vote.
Ohio is a battleground state that has voted for the winning candidate in more than 90 percent of the presidential elections dating back to 1900.
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