Jared Kushner Helps Trump Sell ‘Crisis’ On Border — And Unpopular Wall

President Trump and Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images

By Alyssa Fisher January 8, 2019

President Trump is on a mission to convince Americans that there’s a “crisis” on the southern border — and to bully Democrats into caving to his demand for a wall.

And Jared Kushner is helping out his famous father-in-law, Axios reported.

During a briefing, a group of reporters were given a slide deck with statistics about the border crossing, made by Vice President Pence, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Kushner, among others.

The presentation was meant to highlight what the White House says is a crisis, but it included several dubious and alarmist claims about illegal border crossings, which have actually been declining in recent years.

Among the most bizarre claims was Nielsen’s claim that the wall is needed because 4,000 “suspected terrorists” have been caught by the U.S. trying to enter the country illegally. In fact, just six of the 3,500-odd people stopped because they are on so-called “watch” lists were arrested crossing the border with Mexico.

Kushner’s involvement in the push for a anti-immigrant measures is difficult to square with this own family’s refugee back story. When one of Trump’s tweets was accused of being anti-Semitic during the 2016 presidential campaign, Kushner defended him by sharing his grandparents’ story of survival during the Holocaust.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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