There is no evidence for former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that “the Congo” has emptied prisons to allow violent criminals to come to the US border as migrants – and the governments of both the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring Republic of Congo say Trump’s assertions are entirely false.
“Everything he is saying isn’t true,” Democratic Republic of Congo spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe told CNN in a text message on Thursday. Asked specifically about Trump’s claims about Congolese prisons being emptied of violent criminals, he said, “Never ever, it’s not true.” And, he said, “we want him to stop” telling these stories, since “it’s very bad for the country.”
Serge Mombouli, the Republic of Congo’s ambassador to the US, said in an email to CNN on Friday: “There is no truth or any sign nor a single fact supporting such a claim or statement.”
Facts First: Trump’s claims are baseless. Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, plus both pro-immigration and anti-immigration organizations in the US, told CNN they have not seen any evidence of Congolese prisons being emptied. Trump’s presidential campaign and an allied super PAC did not respond to requests to provide any evidence. A CNN search of two media databases turned up no evidence. And federal figures show that there is no “very big” influx of Congolese migrants of any kind, let alone former prisoners in particular.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, keeps making claims about emptied Congolese prisons as he criticizes President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration. For example, Trump said during a Fox News town hall in late February: “We have people coming in from everywhere. They’re coming in from the Congo. They interviewed some people last night. ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Congo.’ ‘Where did you live?’ ‘Prison.’ They’re emptying out their prisons into our country.”
During a visit to the border later in February, Trump said, “The Congo – a very big population coming in from jails from the Congo. You look at the jails now, you take a look at the jails throughout the region, but more importantly, throughout the world. They’re emptying out because they’re dumping them into the United States.”
And the pro-immigration Migration Policy Institute, which said it is unaware of any country emptying prisons to send people to the US, noted that Trump’s stories about “the Congo” are just the latest in his series of unsubstantiated claims about foreign countries supposedly emptying prisons and mental health facilities for nefarious migration purposes. “This week, the Congo. In the past, Latin America.
Tomorrow, likely another country,” spokesperson Michelle Mittelstadt scoffed of Trump’s claims.
SOURCE: CNN
