Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
No.
Experts on prison populations told Wisconsin Watch there is no evidence that prisons in either the Republic of the Congo or the Democratic Republic of the Congo are emptying their prisons, or that released prisoners from those neighboring African nations are coming en masse to the U.S.
Speaking about illegal immigration in the U.S., former President Donald Trump made the Congo claim in an April 9, 2024, interview with a Green Bay, Wisconsin, radio talk show.
Joshua Walker of the Congo Research Group at New York University said a prison in Kinshasa released 300 prisoners in March, after Trump began making this claim, but there’s no evidence any came to the U.S.
Helen Fair of the University of London-based Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research agreed no evidence backs up Trump’s claim.
Other fact-checkers also have debunked Trump’s claim.
Trump’s campaign didn’t reply to Wisconsin Watch’s request for information.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Google Docs: Helen Fair email 4/17/24
Google Docs: Joshua Walker email 4/16/24
omny.fm: RJS – 4/9/24 – Segment 7 – The Regular Joe Show
Washington Post: Trump has a bunch of new false claims. Here’s a guide.
Wisconsin Watch: Are undocumented immigrants at border more apt to commit crime?
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