BORDER/MEXICO/MUSLIMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Trump revived an old and still unproved rumor that hints that Islamic migrants were entering the United States through Mexico and could pose a terrorism threat. This lacks evidence. Starting as early as 2005, politicians have claimed to have discovered discarded prayer rugs — and perhaps even Qurans or ‘a lot of stuff written in Arabic’ — at the southern border, hinting without evidence that Islamic migrants were entering the United States through Mexico and could pose a terrorism threat. Mr. Trump’s tweet revived this long-running and still unproved rumor. He was citing an interview in The Washington Examiner, a conservative newspaper, with one anonymous female rancher who lives on the border.”
–Linda Qiu, “Trump’s Baseless Claim About Prayer Rugs Found at the Border,” The New York Times online, January 18, 2019