The falsehoods Fox aired included claims that most or all of the migrants with criminal convictions entered the country during the Biden administration, suggestions that migrants with criminal convictions are moving freely within the U.S., suggestions that most or all migrants entered the country with prior criminal convictions from elsewhere, and claims that the total number of migrants with criminal convictions grew dramatically under Biden.

Media Matters found at least two instances of Fox News personalities or reporters attempting to debunk the false claims about the ICE statistics that were spread widely on the network: one from The Five co-host Jessica Tarlov and another from Los Angeles-based correspondent Bill Melugin. Both instances occurred the same day the data were released.

Moreover, the Department of Homeland Security subsequently issued a statement to media outlets September 28, which was included in a fact check by CNN the following day, properly contextualizing the numbers from ICE:

The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.

News outlets soon followed with their own fact checks on the ICE statistics, but that didn't stop Fox News personalities and guests from ignoring clarifications on the data and repeating false claims. The network included such context in less than half of total segments in the study period: 30 segments, or 48%.

When Fox did include the proper context from DHS or ICE — or even from their own reporters — the network continued to push false narratives about immigration and crime. Fox personalities and guests downplayed, undermined, or dismissed the clarifications in more than half of such segments: 17 segments, or 57%.

Right-wing media ran with those false characterizations of the data, and they were bolstered by former President Donald Trump's misrepresentations in several social media posts.

Trump posted the false claim that “13,000 convicted murderers entered our Country during her [Kamala Harris'] three and a half year period as Border Czar,” followed up with another falsehood, “almost 14,000 MURDERERS to freely and openly roam our Country,” and finally double-downed on both false statements with another post, writing, “14,000 CONVICTED thugs and slimeballs who have committed MURDER have been allowed to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, and roam free.”

Such rhetoric is not only false and misleading; it intentionally stokes unwarranted fears about immigrants and crime, specifically those who have crossed the southern U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump campaign has been using these misrepresentations to unfairly attack Vice President Kamala Harris' record — despite the fact that immigrants in general are more law-abiding than native-born Americans and that studies have consistently shown that undocumented immigrants do not commit more crime than U.S. citizens.

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” “Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” “ICE,” “Department of Homeland Security” or “DHS” or “Gonzales” (including misspellings) within close proximity of any of the terms “alien,” “illegal,” “undocumented,” or “documented” or any variations of any of the terms “migrant,” “immigrant,” or “noncitizen” also within close proximity of any of the terms “crime,” “homicide,” “assault,” “rape,” “statistics,” “stats,” “13,000,” “14,000,” “15,000,” “16,000,” “425,000,” “660,000,” “400,000,” or “227,000” or any variations of any of the terms “murder,” “convict,” “detain,” or “non-docket” from noon ET September 27, 2024, when GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales released data requested from ICE about immigration and crime, through September 30, 2024.

We included segments, which we defined as instances when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics about immigration and crime released to GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales were the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of statistics. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the statistics with one another.

We then reviewed the identified segments for whether they included any of the following misrepresentations of the ICE data:

• Suggesting that the statistics only refer to the Biden-Harris administration or that all or most of the homicide offenders in the data entered the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration.
• Suggesting that migrants who have criminal convictions in the U.S. are running or roaming freely within the country.
• Suggesting that the statistics refer to persons who were already convicted of violent crimes prior to entering the U.S.
• Suggesting that the number of convicted criminals on the non-detained docket list grew dramatically under the Biden-Harris administration.

We also reviewed the segments for whether any speaker in the segment provided the correct context for the identified data misrepresentations and whether any speaker undermined, downplayed, or otherwise dismissed or cast doubt on the information from DHS, ICE, or other entities that properly contextualized the statistics.