“11,888 murderers, many of whom are multiple‑killers, have entered the United States.” — Donald Trump. Our verdict: Unverified.
Donald Trump made the claim in a speech on crime statistics and enforcement in Garden City, New York, on 17 July 2026.
Our verdict
Unverified
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute the claim that 11,888 murderers, many of them multiple-killers, have entered the United States. No official dataset tracks a total figure of this kind, and the figures that do exist cover a different group of people.
Know something that settles it? Send us evidenceWhat we found
Donald Trump did make this claim, in a speech on 17 July 2026, and CNN published a full annotated transcript of it. But the number itself — 11,888 — does not appear in any public record we could find. The closest official figure comes from a FactCheck.org report, which says that as of July 2024, 14,944 noncitizens on the ICE non-detained docket were listed as having homicide charges. That is a different measure: it counts people facing charges on one specific docket at one point in time, not the total number of murderers who have entered the country. It therefore neither backs up nor contradicts the 11,888 figure. The second part of the claim — that many of these people killed more than one person — is also unsupported. We found no data on how many murderers have multiple homicide convictions. Because neither part of the claim can be checked against a reliable source, we rate it unverifiable. If you have evidence that bears on this, please send it to us.
The evidence
1 of 2 sources contradict the claim; none support it.
- Background
CNN published an annotated transcript confirming that Trump said '11,888 murderers, many of whom killed more than one person' entered the United States. [1]
- Contradicts the claim
FactCheck.org reported that as of July 2024, 14,944 noncitizens on the ICE non-detained docket were listed as having homicide charges — a different population and timeframe from the claim, so it does not confirm the 11,888 figure. [2]
What we could not confirm
- Whether exactly 11,888 murderers have entered the United States, across all time periods and entry routes.
- What share of murderers who entered the United States killed more than one person.
How we checked
We looked for official immigration and criminal-history records that count murderers who have entered the United States, and for any data on multiple homicide convictions. We found only a transcript of the speech itself and a FactCheck.org report on a related but different figure. We reviewed 2 relevant sources.
Sources
- [1]cnn.com · Annotated full transcript of Trump’s speech claiming US election vulnerabilities · July 17, 2026
- [2]factcheck.org · Border Czar Makes Misleading Claim About Immigrants With Criminal Records - FactCheck.org · July 12, 2025
- [3]Original statement · Speech · November 3, 2026
- [4]Photo: Daniel Torok / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Help us check this claim
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. If you know of an official record, dataset, transcript or report that settles it, send us the link. We review every submission and update this fact check when the evidence changes the picture.
Measured Take updates fact checks when new evidence emerges. Corrections are noted on the page.
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