Eric Swalwell misquotes Lindsey Graham on Donald Trump’s deportation plans

A single syllable can make a difference. Sometimes, a big difference.

In a June 9 X post, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., pounced on video footage of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of former President Donald Trump.

The clip came from an interview Graham had done with CBS’ "Face the Nation" earlier that day. It was captured and posted by the X account @Acyn, which shares a steady stream of video clips to its nearly half-million followers. The account is run by Acyn Torabi, an editor with the liberal website MeidasTouch.com.

The @Acyn account wrote, "Graham: On day one President Trump will deport people here legally by the tens of thousands. Biden will never do that."

The tweet attracted 1,200 reposts and 2,000 likes by midday July 10. But the post’s traction increased after Swalwell reposted it late July 9.

Swalwell wrote, ""#BREAKING. Trump will round up and deport LEGAL immigrants. No one is safe. If you are not white you may be gone. Tell your family members to be ready."

By the afternoon of June 10, the post had received 4,900 reposts and 11,000 likes and was still live on the platform. A reader asked PolitiFact to check it.

Featured Fact-check

Kamala Harris

stated on October 23, 2024 in a CNN town hall

"As of today, we have cut the flow of immigration by over half."

There was one problem: Graham never said Trump would deport legal immigrants. He said Trump would deport illegal immigrants.

"On Day 1, President Trump will deport people here illegally by the tens of thousands," Graham said in the clip. "Then and only then will this stop, and Biden will never do that."

The original interview video shows that Graham’s Southern-inflected cadence did partially swallow the "il-" in "illegally" at the 26:55 time stamp, making it tricky to parse his phrasing. 

CBS’ official transcript of the show marked down the word as "illegally." A spokesperson for Graham, Taylor Reidy, confirmed to PolitiFact that Graham had said "illegally." 

We asked Swalwell’s office whether he had other evidence that Trump plans to deport immigrants who are in the country legally, but the office did not respond. 

Trump has proposed far-reaching deportations, and he hasn’t ruled out building detention camps for those deportations. But his standard position focuses on deporting people in the U.S. illegally. He has also said he wants to change the policy to block birthright citizenship for children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally; under long-standing legal interpretations, such children have citizenship if they are born on U.S. soil.

Swalwell posted on X that Graham said Trump, if elected, "will round up and deport LEGAL immigrants."

Graham actually said Trump plans to deport immigrants in the U.S. "illegally," not "legally."

We rate his statement False.