National Public Radio’s Up First newsletter highlights top stories from the taxpayer-supported radio network. Wednesday’s newsletter, centered around Night Two of the Republican National Convention and its themes of crime and illegal immigration, smeared and "fact-checked" Tuesday night’s speakers while using the soft, politically pleasing phrase “undocumented immigrants” to describe those formerly known as “illegal immigrants.”
NPR's Majd Al-Waheidi and Brittney Melton led with left-wing hysteria right off the bat. Somehow, talking about illegal aliens murdering women is "violent rhetoric" and an "attack."
The Republican National Convention's "Make America Safe Again" night was marked by violent rhetoric and attacks on undocumented immigrants. Speakers said crime is increasing, criticized Biden's record on crime and immigration, and falsely claimed Democrats want to allow unauthorized migrants to vote. Nearly every speaker linked the fentanyl crisis to U.S. immigration and border policies…
While it is true that under President Biden, the southern border saw a record high amount of people crossing into the U.S. without authorization, the number has greatly decreased since January, Martínez-Beltrán reports. He reports that studies also show migrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
So, after months of the media ignoring or dismissing the border crisis, now it’s old news because Biden has supposedly brought his administration's incredibly high numbers down? How convenient.
The supposed fact-check got not better. Excerpts from the text version of the original NPR report highlighted by Up First:
A MARTÍNEZ: Here to help us sort all of this out is NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, who covers immigration, and NPR's Meg Anderson, who covers criminal justice. All right, Sergio, let's start with you. A lot of the speeches talked about migrants pouring into the country. Do a little fact check for us, if you could.
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, so it is true that under President Biden, the southern border saw a record high in terms of people crossing into the U.S. without authorization, but that number has really gone down since January. In June, there was a 24% decrease in arrests at the border in comparison to May, so no, there has not been a, quote-unquote, "open border" or "invasion" at the southern border.
A MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, Republicans also accused Democrats of wanting to allow unauthorized migrants to vote. What about that one?
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: So it is illegal to vote in the U.S. if you're not a citizen, but several Republicans last night repeatedly falsely said that Democrats want to allow unauthorized migrants to vote, and, you know, this is in line with the long-standing Republican rhetoric that elections in this country are rampant with voter fraud, although there's no evidence for that.
In fact, it is not invariably “illegal to vote in the U.S. if you’re not a citizen,” at least not in one of the many liberal municipalities across America that allow non-citizens to vote in state and local elections, if not yet federal ones. It’s certainly not a baseless concern.
A MARTÍNEZ: We heard also a lot of linking of migrants to crime. What do we know about that link?
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: So last night, we heard from the family of Rachel Morin. She was murdered on a trail in Maryland last year, and a man from El Salvador, who is in the country without authorization, has been charged with her murder and rape. You know, this is very tragic. This is horrible, but it is not emblematic of any particular trend, even though Republicans did try to frame it that way. Multiple studies have found, A, that migrants are less likely to commit a crime than people born in the U.S. For example, Stanford University found that immigrants are 30% less likely to be imprisoned than white Americans.
