Zebra Fact Check noted that a PolitiFact fact check created a false narrative around Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, suggesting that DeSantis conflated one statistic with another when speaking about illegal immigration. PolitiFact failed to acknowledge that border apprehensions have a long history as a proxy for illegal border crossings. PolitiFact also failed to acknowledge that border apprehensions do not represent every attempt to illegally cross the border. Some cross illegally without detection.
Accordingly, Zebra Fact Check asked PolitiFact to correct its fact check. In reply we received PolitiFact’s standard response to emails.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
Your fact check claiming “Ron DeSantis exaggerates number of migrants in US illegally under President Joe Biden” ignores critical facts that may give a different impression (yes, that’s your definition of “Mostly False”).
First, the fact check claims Gov. DeSantis conflated border apprehensions with the number of undocumented migrants who remained in the United States. The fact check offers no evidence confirming what figures DeSantis used to support his claim, so you’re presenting conjecture as fact. Also, the claim ignores the fact that apprehension figures are routinely used as a proxy for illegal crossings. Leaving that fact out while accusing DeSantis of improperly conflating two numbers is careless to the point of dishonesty.
Would PolitiFact contact professional journals and argue that professionals used proxies that in reality represented a conflating of two different figures?
PolitiFact would be crazy to try, for PolitiFact would lose that credibility game.
The fact check not only failed to note the use of border apprehensions as a proxy for illegal entry, it entirely failed to note that border apprehensions do not account for all illegal border crossings. Again, that’s carelessness to the point of deception. You, the fact checker, are publishing misinformation by failing to explain that illegal entry will consistently exceed apprehensions (by more than a little). That’s exactly why professionals publishing in peer-reviewed journals get away with using border apprehensions as a proxy for illegal entry.
A reasonable fact check might argue that the traditional proxy isn’t all that reliable, for a variety of reasons. But to completely omit the fact that migrants often cross into the United States without encountering the Border Patrol counts as journalistic malpractice.
Please do what is necessary to correct the fact check and avoid misleading the public, lest you damage our democracy.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.