News Reporter: Fact Checker: Fact-checking Muslim ban, guns and immigration after Orlando shootings

The truth behind the rhetoric

Fact-checking guns, Muslim ban and immigration after Orlando shootings

On Sunday, a gunman opened fire in an Orlando night club, killing at least 50 people and injuring dozens more. In response to the shooting and revelations that the suspect may have been radicalized, the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees have been speaking about their proposals on national security, immigration and gun rights.

Trump doubled-down on his proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States, and appeared to expand this ban to include immigration from countries with a “proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies." He said a president has the power and “absolute right” to suspend entry of “any class of persons.” We fact-checked, and it turned out, he was mostly right.

The president does have broad authority to deem a person or groups of people ineligible for a visa out of national security concerns. But Trump suggests banning nearly a quarter of the global population, or more — and the authority hasn’t been tested in such a way. Further, the president doesn’t have “absolute” majority; Congress could act to nullify his actions, even over his veto. He earned One Pinocchio, equivalent to “mostly true,” for this claim.

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Fact Checker round-up: Clinton-Trump dueling speeches

We fact-checked lots of other claims from the two candidates’ speeches, which readers may hear repeatedly as both candidates enter general-election mode. Below are a handful of the claims we fact-checked; see the full found-up here. (We also fact-checked a series of Democratic claims by Senate Democrats about gun control; check it out here.)

"It's no coincidence that hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques have tripled after Paris and San Bernardino."

–Hillary Clinton

Clinton suggests this is a current statistic, but it is based on just one month of data after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University. Brian Levin, the center's director, told The Fact Checker that the center did not collect data after Jan. 1, and he acknowledged that it represents a "small data set." But he noted that it reflected a trend of anti-Muslim actions that have spiked after previous instances, mostly notably after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"Her [Hillary Clinton] plan is to disarm law-abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. … She wants to take away Americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us."

–Donald Trump

Nope, Clinton does not want to abolish the Second Amendment.

Our friends at FactCheck.org and PolitiFact both debunked this. Clinton has consistently said she supported protecting Americans' constitutional right to bear arms. Her gun violence prevention proposal includes plans to make certain gun purchases a federal crime, and ban certain type of guns (assault weapons).

Let's not forget that Trump himself used to support an assault weapons ban,as he wrote in his 2000 book, "The America We Deserve": "I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun."

"For starters, it is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations."

–Clinton

This has long been an issue for the U.S. government, which has jawboned these countries to little effect. A 2009 State Department cable, issued when Clinton was secretary of state and later released by WikiLeaks, detailed the talking points that were to be delivered to officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, urging yet again that action be taken to stem the financing of terrorist groups through private donations. In recent years, government officials say, the Saudis and Qataris have cracked down but Kuwait remains a problem.

We should also note that such concerns did not prevent the Clinton Foundation from accepting millions of dollars from these countries — $10 million to $25 million from Saudi Arabia, $5 million to $10 million from Kuwait and $1 million to $5 million from Qatar.

"Each year the United States permanently admits 100,000 immigrants from the Middle East and many more from Muslim countries outside of the Middle East."

–Trump

Trump overstated the figure here. The number of people seeking lawful permanent resident status ("a green card") adds up to about 76,000 people if you include the Arab countries in the Levant, Persian Gulf and North Africa, according to 2014 Department of Homeland Security figures.

You get to around 100,000 only by including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which of course are outside the traditional "Middle East." Other Muslim countries, such as Indonesia (2,139) and Somalia (5,190), do not significantly add to the total.

"Clinton's State Department was in charge of admissions and the admissions process for people applying to enter from overseas."

–Trump

This is a strange and false claim. The vetting of immigrants is done by Homeland Security, specifically its arm known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Only after USCIS approves a petition for an immigrant visa does State's National Visa Center get involved to complete the paperwork for final processing.

Help us find ads, statements, speeches, quotes and figures that don’t quite pass muster. Send your fact-check suggestions: fill out this form, e-mail us or tweet us at @myhlee, @GlennKesslerWP or using #FactCheckThis. Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week’s Pinocchio round-up.

— Michelle Ye Hee Lee