Fox “Straight News” Ignores Key Facts Of Obama's Immigration Record

Fox's flagship “straight news” program Special Report helped advance the narrative that President Obama is weak on border security, ignoring that deportations of undocumented immigrants have increased under Obama, and that the number of border patrol agents and funding for border security efforts have also increased. 

Reporting on Prince William County's controversial immigration ordinance, Special Report host Bret Baier said that whereas “President Obama is appealing to the Hispanic community with his temporary amnesty program, Mitt Romney has been focusing on border security and workplace enforcement.” 

Baier's reporting contributes to the false impression that Obama is weak on border security. In fact, the opposite is true.

During Obama's three years in office, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 1.1 million undocumented immigrants. The annual average number of deportations under Obama is "double the annual average during President George W. Bush's first term and 30 percent higher than the average when he left office," according to ABC News. The removal of undocumented immigrants has steadily increased since Obama took office.

In addition, deportations of undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions have increased 89 percent since 2008.

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USA Today analysis noted that on average, U.S. border cities were statistically safer than other cities in their states, in part due to increased money and agents to the southwestern border. Since 2004, the number of “boots on the ground” along the Southwest border has risen by almost 85 percent.

Moreover, under Obama, seizures of drugs and weapons along the southwestern border have significantly increased.