Multiple media outlets have falsely attributed child detention figures from the Obama era to the Trump Administration, and have subsequently been forced to issue retractions, according to Fox News.
The fraudulent story started with a U.N. official named Manfred Novak, with the U.N.’s “Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty,” who first published a report claiming that up to 100,000 illegal alien children were detained by the Trump Administration.
But the day after the story came out, he was forced to issue a retraction when it was revealed that the 100,000 number was actually from the year 2015, when Barack Obama was president.
As a result, multiple news agencies that first reported on the story – including Reuters, NPR, and Agence France-Presse – all issued retractions of their own. Reuters and AFP said that they would not issue replacement stories, while NPR stated that they would “post a revised article with more complete information.”
The false story was also picked up and circulated by Democratic figures, including Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), who is one of the leading candidates for the party’s presidential nomination. Sanders and other Democrats have not issued retractions or apologies for sharing the fake news.