No, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page didn't call Trump's immigration plan 'unrealistic'

A new advertisement misleadingly accuses a Republican North Carolina legislative candidate of criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. 

The video ad, paid for by the NC True Conservatives political action committee, is meant to sway Guilford and Rockingham county voters in North Carolina’s 26th Senate District to vote for state Sen. Phil Berger over his GOP primary challenger, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.

The ad accurately points out that Trump endorsed Berger, the state’s Senate leader since 2011, partly because of Berger’s support for Trump’s immigration policies. The ad then claims Page "got busted calling Trump’s plan unrealistic."

Here’s a transcript of the ad:

Trump: "Seal the border. Stop the invasion, and send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens the hell back home."

Narrator: "Phil Berger backs President Trump’s plan to stop illegal immigration. That’s why President Trump backs Phil Berger. And Sam Page? He got busted calling Trump’s plan unrealistic."

Page, in what the ad labels a "leaked video" clip: "It is unrealistic to assume that 12 to 14 million people will just leave the United States." 

Narrator: "Sam Page — wrong on Trump, wrong on immigration, wrong for us."

Page has been a Trump ally for years, and the ad doesn’t provide any context for Page’s remarks, which were made in 2012. That’s years before Trump filed to run for president the first time — and even longer before Trump had articulated his immigration enforcement plan. The ad also deceptively edited Page’s complete comments.

Page’s full comments

Page pointed PolitiFact to a YouTube video posted Oct. 12, 2012 showing Page speaking at a lectern. 

In it, Page said the federal government needs to do more to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, such as hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. "Therefore, the National Sheriffs’ Association recommends the following," Page can be heard saying. 

"We’re asking for additional ICE agents, Border Patrol agents," Page said. "We’re also asking for continued increased funding for our 287(g) and ‘Secure Community’ program."

He continued: "On the pathway to legal employment and legal status, the National Sheriffs’ Association does, at this point and time, strongly oppose outright amnesty for those individuals currently here illegally. Amnesty does not work. However, it is unrealistic to assume that 12 to 14 million people will just leave the United States if asked. A plausible solution must be developed. And that’s what I’m saying tonight."

Page then encouraged people to watch a documentary on illegal immigration and to call their representatives in Congress to demand a more secure border. 

Page said he was reading from a 2011 National Sheriffs’ Association position paper on comprehensive immigration reform. 

The association’s position paper read: "When granted in 1986, [amnesty] did little to stop the flow of illegal individuals from coming across the border and, in fact, contributed to thousands of fraudulent applications for amnesty. History cannot repeat itself. However, it is unrealistic to assume that 12 to 20 million people will just leave the United States if asked. A plausible solution must be developed."

When PolitiFact presented this information to NC True Conservatives, group spokesman Lawrence Shaheen said Page’s comments reflect the candidate’s personal beliefs. Shaheen cited a segment of the video when Page says, "And that’s what I’m saying tonight" — as well as an Oct. 8, 2012, Winston-Salem Journal article that read in part:

The goal, Page said, is to motivate people to lobby members of Congress to do something about illegal immigration. Asked what he thinks should be done, Page said he supports comprehensive immigration reform — legislation that would deal with the estimated 11 million to 14 million noncitizens in the U.S. without authorization.

Mass deportations, Page said, would not be an effective way to deal with the issue.

"In the U.S., you can't just deport 14 million people. There is going to have to be some type of fix for the long term."

Page told PolitiFact that he didn’t recall his conversation with a Winston-Salem Journal reporter, but said he was likely attempting to relay the position of the association. After Page campaign attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to Shaheen, lawyers for NC True Conservatives responded to the Page campaign citing the same news article and 2012 video. The group declined to take down the ad.

Page support for Trump

Page told PolitiFact that his support for that plan is evident through his backing of Trump and tougher immigration policies through the years. 

In 2015, Page testified before a Congressional committee on immigration and border security. In a prepared statement, Page expressed support for legislation that would deport undocumented minors to their home countries so long as they wouldn’t face persecution there or face the risk of trafficking. 

Page says he co-founded "Sheriffs for Trump" in 2016, when Trump promised to deport every immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, then estimated to be 11 million people. In September 2016, Page told The New York Times: "I believe we need to remove all criminal offenders that are in this country illegally." In January 2017, Page told WXII-TV that he supported Trump’s plan to build a wall on the southern U.S. border and crack down on illegal immigration. The next month, Page was one of several sheriffs to visit Trump at the White House and praise his agenda. 

Page helped lead Trump’s 2020 campaign in North Carolina, and in recent years supported local legislation that would require North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officers. 

Page supported Trump again in 2024, when Trump vowed to carry out the "largest domestic deportation operation in American history." The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump last year provided hundreds of billions of dollars in new Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding to help Trump achieve his goal. Page congratulated Trump for signing the legislation, describing it on X as a "major achievement and bold step forward."

When Trump endorsed Berger in the race in December, the president said Page had been a longtime supporter and described him as an "outstanding" person. 

Page also referred PolitiFact to an article by The Assembly, which described him this way: "No North Carolina law enforcement official has cheered President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration agenda as much as Rockingham County’s cowboy hat-wearing sheriff, Sam Page." 

Trump’s immigration plan

The Trump administration has asked immigrants to leave on their own, calling it self-deportation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in January that an estimated 2.2 million people had self-deported during the first year of Trump’s second term in office. That number is under scrutiny, however, because the Trump administration hasn’t released monthly detailed deportation data.

But the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement plan shows it isn’t relying solely on self-deportation. 

DHS is offering a $2,600 stipend to each immigrant who self-deports and reports it on a government app. The offer comes with a warning: Those who don’t self-deport will be "arrested, deported, and they will never be able to return to the United States." To execute that plan, Trump’s administration is investing billions of dollars to hire immigration agents to conduct what it touts as the "largest domestic deportation operation in American history."

Our ruling

A NC True Conservatives ad claims that Page "got busted calling Trump’s [immigration] plan unrealistic."

The group cited comments Page made about immigration in 2012, years before Trump ran for president. He was repeating a portion of the National Sheriffs’ Association’s position paper at the time, and Page says he was reading them to an audience. He was not commenting on Trump’s immigration plan at all.

Page has been an ardent supporter of Trump’s for years — even after the president’s vows to conduct large-scale deportations. We rate the ad’s claim False.