Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Univision town hall with Latino voters

At a Noticias Univision town hall in South Florida, former President Donald Trump faced undecided Latino voters who questioned him on the cause-and-effect of his immigration agenda, his response to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots, and whether he believed the things he’s said about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump often avoided direct answers.

Jorge Velázquez, a 64-year-old farmer who lives in California, asked Trump: "This tough job is mainly done by undocumented people, if you deport them, who would do the job and what price would we pay for food?"

Trump replied with false campaign rally talking points, saying that people are coming in illegally, including from jails and mental institutions.

Trump also avoided talking about his pledge to do mass deportations or to revoke birthright citizenship. He also left out a rally line about immigrants "poisoning the blood of our country."  

When Ramiro González, a 56-year-old Tampa man, told Trump he was disturbed by Trump’s inaction on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how he lost the support of former advisers, Trump downplayed  Jan. 6 as a "day of love."

Here, we fact-checked some of Trump’s statements. (We also fact-checked Vice President Kamala Harris’ Oct. 10 Univision town hall.)

Trump downplayed Jan. 6, 2021, as a "day of love," saying "nobody was killed" and that "there were no guns." Video evidence, court documents and news coverage show this is false. Four people died Jan. 6, 2021, as Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol; one woman was fatally shot and three other people died from medical emergencies suffered during the riot. Court files say several defendants brought firearms with them, and some were charged with having firearms on Capitol grounds.

Trump said he told supporters who walked down the Capitol to act "peacefully and patriotically." Trump told his supporters at a Jan. 6, 2021, "Save America" rally, "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." But in the days leading up to the rights and also at the rally, he told them to "fight." 

Legal experts counter Trump’s claim that Biden dropping out of the race and Harris becoming the Democratic presidential candidate was a "coup." A "coup d’etat" is a French term for overthrowing a government. Biden dropped out of the race July 21 and endorsed Harris, but he remains in power. Experts said that Democrats persuading him to drop out of the race and then using the party rules to replace him on the ticket is not illegal, nor a "coup."

Trump falsely said "that’s been in the newspapers and reported" that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat pets. This distorts reality. What’s been reported — repeatedly — is that this claim is wrong. Local officials have said it’s false that immigrants in Springfield are eating cats and dogs. The news coverage has focused largely on debunking the false narrative Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, have pushed. 

Trump overstates how many immigrants are in Springfield, Ohio. "They added almost 30,000" immigrants, Trump told a town hall audience member. City officials have said 12,000 to 20,000 new migrants arrived in Springfield over the last four years, in a city of just less than 60,000 people. Most of the immigrants are Haitians and are allowed to temporarily live and work in the country legally.

Audience members ask former President Donald Trump questions Oct. 16, 2024, during a Univision town hall in Doral, Fla. (AP)

Trump said that "under Biden and Harris, they allowed 13,099 convicted murderers" to come into the U.S. But that misrepresents the data. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said there were 13,099 noncitizens convicted of homicide who are not in immigration detention. That represents people who entered the country in the past 40 years, not exclusively under the Biden-Harris administration. Many people are not in immigration detention because they’re in law enforcement custody serving sentences.

Trump said, "Democrats want men to play women’s sports." There is no official count, but estimates show the population of transgender athletes participating in school sports is very small. It’s up to states to decide whether to let transgender athletes participate in school sports. In recent years, 25 states have passed laws governing the eligibility of transgender students who wish to participate in school sports. Those restrictions are often focused on limiting the eligibility of transgender girls to play on girls’ teams. The U.S. Department of Education is working on a proposal that would ban schools from adopting "one-size-fits-all" policies that ban transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity.

Trump falsely said that "they want transgender operations, to change a man into a woman, and in some cases a boy into a woman without parental consent." We rated a similar Trump claim Pants on Fire. Gender-affirming surgery on minors is rare and laws and professional standards require parents and medical providers to be involved in those decisions. 

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks Oct. 16, 2024, during a Noticias Univision town hall in Doral, Fla. (AP)

Speaking of Roe v. Wade, Trump said "every lawyer, every legal scholar, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives … everybody wanted it out." This repeat is False. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, numerous legal scholars wrote briefs urging the Supreme Court to uphold it. Some legal scholars who favor abortion rights have criticized Roe’s legal underpinnings, saying that different constitutional arguments, based on equal protection, would have provided a stronger case. But legal experts, including some who held this view, said those scholars would not have advocated for overturning Roe on this basis.

Trump exaggerated interest rate levels during his presidency and under Biden, saying "interest rates went from 2% to 10%." The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached a low 2.65% shortly before Trump left office, but rates had fallen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The peak rate under Trump was 4.94% in November 2018. Mortgage rates are higher under Biden because the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to stem inflation. But they never went as high as 10%. The peak rate under Biden was 7.79% in October 2023. It’s now 6.32%.

Trump is wrong (again) about presiding over the "greatest economy" in U.S. history. The unemployment rate fell during Trump’s presidency to levels untouched in five decades. But Biden matched or exceeded those levels. Another measure, the annual increases in gross domestic product — the monetary value of all goods and services a country produces — were broadly similar under Trump to what they were during the final six years under President Barack Obama. And GDP growth under Trump was below that of previous presidents. Wages increased under Trump, but they began rising during Obama’s presidency. The wage increases under Trump were modest compared with the 2% a year increase in the 1960s. 

Trump offered a dubious take on farmers’ prosperity during his presidency. Trump said, "Farmers are doing very badly under this administration. Under my administration, farmers were doing very well." Agriculture Department statistics paint a different picture. The past two editions of the department’s Census of Agriculture covered 2017 (Trump’s first year in office) and 2022 (Biden’s second). The net income per farm rose by 85% from 2017 to 2022. The share of farms registering in the top category for net income — $50,000 or more per year — rose from 33% in 2017 to 40% in 2022.

PolitiFact Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman, Staff Writer Maria Ramirez Uribe, Grace Abels and Samantha Putterman, contributed to this report.

RELATED: Fact-checking Kamala Harris’ Univision town hall with Latino voters.