Fact Check: Did Trump say he'd send 'criminals or people that don't work' elsewhere if he could?
WASHINGTON, DC: During his second run as President, Donald Trump campaigned on his deportation promise and implemented aggressive enforcement through executive orders, legislation, and DHS/ICE actions.
In late February 2026, a rumor circulated online claiming that Trump said he wants to send 'criminals and people that don't work' out of the United US, as he claimed other countries do when they send 'caravans' to the US. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Trump said he'd send 'criminals or people that don't work' elsewhere if he could
A Facebook user came up with a post on Monday, February 23, that read, "Speaking at an event with so-called 'Angel Families' on Monday, Trump claimed that other countries have taken advantage of the United States by rounding up their unemployed and 'undesirable' residents and sending them here. He said those foreign leaders were 'smart' for doing it — because it supposedly saved them hundreds of millions of dollars."
"Trump said he understands why they did it, and that he would do the same thing if given the opportunity. 'And I would do exactly what they did if the United States would be willing to take all of our criminals and people, or people that don’t work, he said," the post added.
It further mentioned, "Citizenship in the United States is not conditional. It is not based on employment status. And it certainly isn’t something a president can revoke just because he believes someone is too expensive. That’s not a strength. That’s something else entirely."
The Facebook post garnered more than 11,000 reactions and more than 6,500 shares at the time of filing this story.
Claim: True, Trump made the statement at a White House event
The claims made in the online post are true, as Donald Trump spoke the words during a February 23 speech at a White House event hosting 'angel families', which the administration called "honoring American lives tragically taken by criminal illegal aliens who never should have been in our country."
Moreover, the White House posted a short clip of the event on YouTube, and the full ceremony is also available to view on the streaming platform. He made the statement at the 33:45 timestamp in the video, where he stated, "We had a strong border. You know, we solved it twice. We solved it in 2016. The border was bad. Nothing like it was this time. It was beautiful compared to this time. This was legendary, in the history of the world, there's never been a border like this where millions of people poured in."
"At least 25 million people. And many of them were the wrong people. Many. You know, when countries fill up the caravans, they don't fill them up with their finest. I wouldn't. And I would do exactly what they did if the United States were willing to take all of our criminals or people who don't work," the POTUS added.
He also declared February 22 as 'National Angel Family Day' in memory of Laken Riley, a college student who was killed in February 2024 by a Venezuelan man who had entered the country illegally.
