During planned remarks on tax reform Thursday, Donald Trump veered way off script to talk about the caravan of immigrants making its way from Central America through Mexico. More specifically he used the word rape to talk about what was going on in the caravan, or so he said.
Discussing immigration laws, Pres. Trump references controversial remarks from campaign launch.
"I used the word rape—and yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody's ever seen before. They don't want to mention that." pic.twitter.com/RvQ162whws
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 5, 2018
The Washington Post did some fact checking on this claim:
“As with Trump’s claim in June 2015, there is almost no actual evidence on which to base this claim. It’s not clear what Trump means by “yesterday it came out,” given there don’t appear to be any mainstream news reports of a rape epidemic taking place in the caravan. The only mentions of rape with regard to the caravan in recent days, in fact, refer to criminal behavior that the migrants have been trying to escape in their home countries or along the route.”
The New York Times also tried to find any figures that back up Trump’s remark, but came up empty:
“The risks of crossing the United States border are well documented. But The New York Times has been unable to find any news reports of rape in the caravan that has so captured the attention of Mr. Trump and the right-wing news media — whether by smugglers or cartels or even among the migrants themselves.”
The Trump claim was also news to reporters traveling in the Trump caravan.
To be clear I haven’t heard of anyone being raped in or around the caravan.
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) April 5, 2018
CNN points out that what would have been more accurate for Trump to say is that rape and sexual assault is a problem with human trafficking, but the caravan in question isn’t part of a human trafficking ring.
President Trump recalls his comments about Mexicans in 2015 as "a greatest hit," says @JohnAvlon https://t.co/RoMLSJ8VTC pic.twitter.com/CWXoUYRfww
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) April 6, 2018
What does the White House say about Trump’s comments? The New York Times reports:
“A White House spokesman did not directly respond to a question about what the president meant when he seemed to indicate new information about such instances of rape had been released on Wednesday. Instead, the spokesman said Mr. Trump was referring to sexual violence inflicted on migrants by smugglers, citing articles from 2009 and 2014 as evidence of those claims.”