On Jan. 9, CBS News updated an article it published a few hours prior, taking out a “fact check” of one of President Donald Trump’s claims made during the speech he gave the evening prior.
Comparing the two versions of the webpage, the “fact check” on the “number of women sexually assaulted on trip to border” is missing from the updated version of the article.
“CLAIM: The president claimed one in three women have been sexually assaulted traveling to the border,” the original article reads. “FACT CHECK: Between 60 percent and 80 percent of female migrants traveling through Mexico are raped along the way, Amnesty International estimates.”
The “fact check” proved that Trump had been inaccurate in his speech, as a 60 to 80 percentage would mean that closer to two (67 percent) and not one (33 percent) in three women suffered from sexual assault while traveling to the border.
However, the “fact check” helped support the point Trump was trying to make—that women are victims in the border crisis.
A “Thorough” Fact-Check
In the original CBS News article, the words “Amnesty International estimates” were hyperlinked to a 2017 report by Migrancy Policy Institute (MPI), which cites both Amnesty International and Fusion for its estimate.“A significant share experience sexual or physical abuse by smugglers, migrants, or even government officials: Between 60 percent and 80 percent of female migrants traveling through Mexico are raped along the way, according to estimates from a study by Amnesty International and reporting by Fusion,” the report reads.
“A staggering 80 percent of Central American girls and women crossing Mexico en route to the United States are raped along the way, according to directors of migrant shelters interviewed by Fusion,” the report says. “That’s up from previous reports by non-profit organizations like Amnesty International that estimate the number at 60 percent.”
The Fusion article then cites from the Amnesty International report titled “Invisible Victims: Migrants on the move in Mexico” that was published in 2010. Tracing through the report, the 60 percent figure comes from a 2002 report that cited a 1999 report, and interviews with UN organizations and CNDH (Mexican Human Rights Commission).
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