The allegations arose from a political speech that mentioned a total of $1.5 trillion. Soon after, social media posts began to spread claiming the Democrats wanted to spend the entire figure on health care for the undocumented. The number sounds large and alarming, enough to cultivate a sense of urgency, which is why social media spread it as quickly as possible.
After visiting nonpartisan sites such as FactCheck.org, I discovered that the $1.5 trillion assumption was taken completely out of context. It referenced a total for a ten-year period in a larger social spending proposal that was not strictly tied to healthcare for the undocumented. In fact, only a small amount was directed at immigration.
There are misleading aspects to the claim because they are based on a real number, but they change the meaning to promote false information. This is a perfect example of saying things in a political statement that twist numbers to elicit strong emotions or bias a voter.
