Trump Ad Misleads on Illegal Immigration

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign makes the misleading claim in a TV ad that he is “cutting illegal immigration in half.” In fact, apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2019 were more than double the total in fiscal year 2016 and almost triple the total in fiscal year 2017.

The Trump campaign apparently based the claim on data showing a significant decline in migrants caught illegally crossing the Southwest border between May and August of this year. But counting apprehensions in just that three-month period amounts to cherry-picking....