Mainstream media jumps on Trump statements, "fact checking." Result...?

The Dems and their mainstream media allies were shrieking both before and after the president's speech last night.  Fortunately the alphabet networks were ready to "fact-check" each of the president's claims against their "  Here's how it went:

TRUMP CLAIM:  Last month 20,000 children were illegally brought into the United States.

FACT:  Probably True. According to CBP, 4,982 unaccompanied minors were apprehended at the border in October 2018, and 5,283 in November. In addition, family units -- that is, individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent or legal guardian) apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol -- numbered 23,115 in October and 25,172 in November. Assuming that each "family unit" contains at least one child, that means that the numbers of children are well above the 20,000 number cited by the president tonight.  [So the president was not only correct, his number was conservative (i.e. low)]


TRUMP CLAIM:  In the last two years ICE officers arrested 266,000 aliens with criminal records.

FACT: The number of arrests for the years 2016-2018 is accurate, according to ICE data, but it needs context.  [Of course!  And we'll provide ours!]  There have been 210,876 arrests of illegal immigrants with previous criminal convictions, and 55,233 more arrested with pending charges. But many of those crimes are non-violent, the most common being traffic violations. [Numbers of each?]

TRUMP CLAIM:  "Illegal use of drugs kills more Americans every year than were killed in the entire Vietnam war."

FACT:  Over 58,200 Americans died in Vietnam.  The Centers for Disease Control reported that over 72,000 people died due to drug overdoses in 2017.  [So the president was absolutely accurate.  But they wouldn't actually say that.]

CLAIM:  "The southern border supplies vast quantities of illegal drugs including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.  Every week 300 U.S. citizens are killed by heroin alone, and 90 percent floods from the southern border."

FACT: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 15,958 Americans died from heroin overdoses in 2017. This comes out to about 306 deaths per week. And according to the Drug Enforcement Administration's 2018 report, "The SWB remains the primary entry point for heroin into the United States. Most of the heroin seized by CBP occurs along the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, California."

So let's see if we've got this straight:  On every point you guys mentioned, the president was right on the money.  Impressive!

Source here--a notoriously biased one: CBS