The president is lying to you to get his border wall, and CNN's Jake Tapper has the facts to prove it.
During the State of the Union address, Trump claimed:
"The border city of El Paso, Texas used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the entire country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country. Simply put: Walls work, and walls save lives."
Except that he's completely wrong.
Watch below:
.@jaketapper: The President is using a false story that the barriers built in El Paso are exhibit A for why he need… https://t.co/AHdw69yqln— The Lead CNN (@The Lead CNN) 1549919537.0
Tapper fact-checked the president's claims. "El Paso has never had, quote, one of the highest rates of violent crime in the entire country," said Tapper. He's right: according to FactCheck.org, "the city had the third lowest violent crime rate among 35 U.S. cities with a population over 500,000 in 2005, 2006 and 2007 – before construction of a 57-mile-long fence started in mid-2008."
Many knew that the President has been overstating the "crisis" at the southern border for far too long.
@TheLeadCNN @jaketapper Duh— Trent Douglas 🇨🇦 (@Trent Douglas 🇨🇦) 1549926533.0
@TheLeadCNN @CNN @jaketapper Nooo??? He's lying????— Amber (@Amber) 1549922486.0
Especially when he speaks about El Paso.
El Paso has always had lower rates of crime than Dallas or Houston - cities that are not on the border.
@TheLeadCNN @CNN @jaketapper Simple math, look at violent crime before the wall vs after wall was built. #WallsWork— John W. Simpson (@John W. Simpson) 1549921724.0
Tapper says that "it is true that customs and border control officials would like more barriers on the US/Mexico border," but that the president's depiction of hoards of immigrants pouring in through El Paso is patently false.
Twitter had some alternate ideas about why Trump is so gung-ho about his wall. "Trump wants his wall as a monument to himself," says Twitter user B Rasmussen.
@TheLeadCNN @jaketapper Jake, why's it so hard for MSM to see what this is? Trump wants this wall as a #monument t… https://t.co/7frZ4vWoEu— B Rasmussen (@B Rasmussen) 1549948017.0
@TheLeadCNN @CNN @jaketapper @POTUS @VP #NegotiationsDay17 An expansion of #Wall at southern border will #Harm… https://t.co/0sCUIpUITQ— Pariskhevi Kalodimas (@Pariskhevi Kalodimas) 1549920920.0
@TheLeadCNN @jaketapper @realDonaldTrump #LiarInChief #WorstPresidentEver https://t.co/U6o2umjPBo— MagicMark (@MagicMark) 1549938172.0
@jaketapper @TheLeadCNN El Paso said to Trump: 😛 https://t.co/C9ypBfaSMb— please get vaxxed (@please get vaxxed ) 1549924394.0
Let's call it what it is: Trump's justification for demanding his wall money is a lie.