151 donald trump discussed immigration in a speech in phoenix wednesday abc news factchecked several of his claims that touched on the federal governments immigration track record as well as trumps policy proposals and those of his democratic challenger hillary clinton undocumented immigrant population claim the federal government has no idea how many undocumented immigrants are in the united states status false in 2012 the department of homeland security estimated there were 114 million unauthorized immigrants in the united states which has been largely corroborated by independent analysis trump said our government has no idea it could be 3 million it could be 30 million they have no idea what the number is background the department of homeland securitys office of immigration statistics estimated in january 2012 that 114 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the united states the department reached its figure by taking the us census bureaus estimate of total foreignborn population living in the united states minus those living here legally either as lawful permanent residents naturalized citizens refugees and other similar categories the remaining population was 114 million with the margin of error for the foreignborn population at plusorminus roughly 125000 these figures were largely corroborated by a pew research center analysis last year which estimated 113 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the united states in 2014 the pew study also found the population level had remained fairly stable for the preceding five years clinton and visa overstays claim hillary clinton supports visa overstays status misleading while clintons immigration plan does not address visa overstays and she can be fairly criticized as having a mixed record on enforcement claiming she supports us visitors remaining beyond their visa expiration is an exaggeration trump said president obama and hillary clinton support sanctuary cities they support catch and release on the border they support visa overstays they support the release of dangerous dangerous dangerous criminals from detention and they support unconstitutional executive amnesty background the department of homeland estimated that out of 45 million visabearing travelers to enter the united states in fiscal 2015 about 416500 overstayed their visas hillary clintons immigration plan does not address visa overstays but according to factcheckorg her record as secretary of state shows she favored a 2013 senate bill that would have helped identify and remove those who overstay their visas more recently however clinton vowed to weaken overstay penalties at an msnbctelemundo town hall in february clinton vowed to repeal the provision in the 1996 illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act that imposes a punitive wait time for visa overstayers who later apply for legal status an audience member at the town hall told the story of her husband overstaying his us visa then being forced to remain in mexico for 10 years before becoming eligible for legal status in the united states i want to tell you clinton said i will end the three and 10year bar provision so that you do not have to face that ever again