Houston Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, said on “The View” earlier this month that a large majority of asylum-seekers “don’t have a valid asylum claim” – about 80% to 90% of them, he said.
Is that a fact? Madlin Mekelburg of the PolitiFact Texas fact-checking team based at the Austin American-Statesman has the answer.
Mekelburg says the asylum process is complicated, but that the asylum-seekers Crenshaw is referring to are those who entered the U.S. illegally and then requested asylum during an encounter with law enforcement.
“They start the removal process, and then they say that they have a credible fear of torture or persecution if they were to be removed from the country,” Mekelburg says. “That triggers the asylum process.”
Hear how Crenshaw’s claim scored in the player above.
Written by Caroline Covington.
