Trump Campaign Ad: Moroccan Migrants Shown Instead of Mexicans
A new political ad for Donald Trump's campaign has been called out for seemingly misrepresenting Moroccan migrants as Mexicans attempting to cross into the United States.
In the video, the narrator says that presidential candidate Trump will "stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for." The statement is accompanied by footage of dozens of people scrambling across the border.
However, PolitiFact reports the footage was not captured on the border between the U.S. and Mexico, but rather from "a small Spanish enclave on the mainland of Morocco."
The footage was originally presented by Italian television network RepubblicaTV, in May 2014. It shows a stream of Moroccan migrants entering Melilla, one of two enclaves on the country's coast that is under Spanish jurisdiction.
As Spain is part of the European Union, the migrants are essentially escaping to European territory without leaving the African continent.
A video of the event can be seen below.
According to video's description (translated by PolitiFact), the footage shows "onslaught of hundreds of migrants to the wall that separates the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco. About 800 tried to cross the border on May 1st. Those who failed to escape the control of the Civil Guard were hanging on the barriers for six hours before being rejected."
While the original video is time-stamped as May 1, 2014, this is absent in Trump's television ad.
According to a Twitter post by NBC journalist Katy Tur, Trump's campaign manager said the video was not intended to show an accurate representation of the current southern border.
Despite the claims made by Trump's campaign, recent findings from the Pew Research Center show that for the first time since the 1940's, more Mexico immigrants are leaving the U.S. rather than entering. This surprising change is likely due to the current economy and the stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
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