Fact check: Claims from the Trump-Harris 2024 presidential debate

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced each other in their first presidential debateand challenge each other on their plans for the country and the economy. The 90-minute debate was hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

CBS News' Confirmed team is currently verifying Harris and Trump's statements about each other and their own records and plans.

False: Trump claims that “millions and millions of people” are “streaming into our country every month”

Trump: “[W]When you look at what she's done to our country, and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country every month, where I believe it's 21 million people, not the 15 that people are saying. And I believe it's a lot more than 21. That's more than the state of New York. People are pouring into our country. And just look at what they're doing to our country.”

Details: Customs and Border Protection's number of encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has reached record levels over the past four years under the Biden administration. But the number isn't approaching the numbers cited by Trump, and not everyone who crossed the border under Biden has been allowed to stay.

According to federal figures, CBP has recorded more than 8 million encounters with migrants at the southern border since Biden took office in 2021. The encounters include migrants who enter the country illegally between legal entry points and those who are processed at those official border crossings, known as ports of entry. The encounters are not isolated incidents, as some migrants cross the border illegally multiple times.

CBP has never recorded “millions” of migrant encounters in a month. The highest monthly number of migrant encounters was recorded in December 2023, when CBP processed over 300,000 migrants.

In addition to those processed by CBP, there are migrants who cross the southern border illegally without being caught. The Border Patrol estimates that 1.7 million migrants have evaded apprehension since the beginning of fiscal year 2021.

Just because migrants were processed by CBP doesn't mean they were allowed to stay. Many were released into the U.S. with a notice to appear in immigration court. But since the beginning of fiscal year 2021, the U.S. has also turned away or deported more than 4 million migrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

By Camilo Montoya Galvez

Partly true, needs context: Harris claims Trump would introduce a $4,000 “sales tax”

Harris: “Economists have said that Trump’s sales tax would actually result in about $4,000 more a year for middle-class families, because of his policies and his ideas about what should be – [on] on the backs of the middle class who pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

Details: Harris gives an estimate of the potential costs if Trump were to impose tariffs on imported goods. Trump has advocated tariffs of at least 10% on most imports and at least 60% on Chinese imports.

However, estimates of the potential cost and likely magnitude of the tariffs vary. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action, a progressive policy institute, estimates that a 20 percent tariff on most imports, combined with a 60 percent tax on Chinese goods, would mean a tax increase of about $3,900 per year for middle-income families.

The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, estimated that a 10 percent global tariff and a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods would reduce average net income by about $1,800 in 2025.

Economists told According to CBS News, consumers would bear the brunt of higher import tariffs through higher prices on goods, which would effectively act as a tax. In an interview with the New York Times, Robert Lighthizer, who served as Trump's chief trade negotiator and still advises his campaign team on trade issues, said the burden on American households could be offset by tax cuts.

By Emma Li

False: Trump claims: “You may have had the highest inflation in the history of our country”

Details: Under President Biden, year-over-year inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. That was the highest monthly reading in about 40 years, but not the highest ever. In the 1970s and early 1980s, inflation rates ranged between 12% and 14%, according to Federal Reserve data. Inflation has cooled significantly since then. Figures for July 2024 show year-over-year inflation at about 2.9%.

By Laura Doan

False: Trump claims Haitian immigrants are ‘eating dogs and pets’ in Springfield, Ohio

Trump: “In Springfield, they eat the dogs – the people who came here – they eat the cats. They eat – they eat the pets of the people who live there. And that's what's happening in our country, and it's a disgrace.”

Details: Officials in Springfield, Ohio, say They have no credible reports that Haitian immigrants have kidnapped and eaten pets, despite viral claims circulating on social media that were amplified this week by Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance and other.

A city spokesperson told CBS News there were “no credible reports or specific allegations” that pets owned by immigrants had been harmed. Officials with the Clark County Park District told CBS News there was “no evidence or reports” of people eating domestic or wild animals.

By Layla Ferris, Rhona Tarrant

Undecided: Harris claims Trump will “sign a national abortion ban”

Harris: “If Donald Trump is re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban.”

Details: Although Trump has not fully supported a nationwide ban on abortion, in March, when he was still facing competitors in the Republican primaries, he floated the idea of ​​a nationwide ban at 15 or 16 weeks of pregnancy, indicating that it was under discussion and that he would support it.

However, Trump has also repeatedly stressed that the issue is a federal matter. When asked directly about a ban in an interview with “Fox and Friends” on August 22, he replied: “I would never do that. There will be no federal ban. That is now back to the states, where it belongs.”

During his first term, Trump supported a House bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks nationwide.

By Libby Cathey

False: Trump claims Walz said “executing babies after birth” was “okay.”

Trump: “[H]The vice presidential candidate says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth – it's execution, no more abortion because the baby is born – is fine. And that's not fine with me. Hence the vote.”

Details: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, did not say that executing an infant after birth is “okay.”

In 2023, Walz signed a bill that included an update to Minnesota state law regarding medical care for infants born alive as a result of an abortion, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The updated state law requires that “all reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice … be taken by the responsible medical personnel to care for the infant who is born alive,” according to the Star Tribune. The law states that an infant born alive is fully recognized as a human person and “enjoys immediate protection under the law.”

In no state is the execution of an infant after birth legal.

By Steve Reilly

Misleading: Trump claims Harris would end fracking in Pennsylvania ‘on day one’

Trump: “If she wins the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one.”

Details: As California's attorney general, Harris filed a lawsuit challenging a federal assessment and permit for fracking off the coast of California. She also said, “There's no question that I'm in favor of banning fracking,” when asked during a 2019 town hall meeting whether she would support implementing a federal ban.

However, as a 2024 presidential candidate, Harris has stated that her administration will not ban fracking. “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking,” Harris said in a recent interview with CNN.

When asked why she changed her mind on the issue, Harris said, “I saw that we can grow and build a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”

By Emma Li and Laura Doan

False: Trump claims Harris would travel by bus and pay people to attend her rallies

Trump: “People don't go to their rallies, there's no reason for them to. And the people who do go, you bus them there, pay them to be there, and then show them in a different light.”

Details: An August 2024 Facebook post was shared on Trump's and Kevin Sorbo's social media sites Truth Social and X. The post shows an alleged Craigslist ad seeking paid actors to carry signs with “anti-Trump” messages.

The post is a doctored image of another fabricated post from 2019 that featured a Craigslist ad seeking paid actors to carry “Pro Trump” signs at a rally in Phoenix.

By Jui Sarwate