Fox Pushes Yet Another Falsehood To Fearmonger Over Immigration Policy Change

Fox News pushed the falsehood that the Department of Homeland Security's change in immigration policy will cause people “to go running over the border” in order to get their children a place to stay in America. In fact, the new policy, which exempts certain young undocumented immigrants from deportation, applies only to immigrants who have been living in the United States for five years.

After President Obama announced the new policy, Fox News has reacted with racially-charged slurs and falsehoods.

Today was no different with Fox & Friends Sunday co-host Clayton Morris saying that there could be “a major spike of illegal immigration in the short term, with people thinking, hey, here is my window of opportunity to be -- get my kids a place to stay in America” and co-host Juliet Huddy interjecting, “Now's the time to go running over the border.”

In fact, people who immigrate to the United States now are not covered by the DHS policy change. The announcement states that to be eligible, an immigrant must have come to the United States before the age of sixteen, graduated from high school or be an honorably discharged veteran, and not have a criminal background. In addition, the immigrant must have lived continually in the United States for five years and been present on the date of the policy announcement, June 16, 2012.

Furthermore, immigrants must have “verifiable documentation” that they have been living here for five years:

Only those individuals who can prove through verifiable documentation that they meet these criteria will be eligible for deferred action. Individuals will not be eligible if they are not currently in the United States and cannot prove that they have been physically present in the United States for a period of not less than 5 years immediately preceding today's date.