Fox News uses facts to instantly take down Trump's border wall address to the nation

Shep Smith delivers withering rebuttal to US president's attempts to stoke fear over illegal immigration

Donald Trump’s Oval Office address, in which he attempted to stoke fears over illegal immigration and convince Americans of the need for a US-Mexico border wall, has faced instant scrutiny from Fox News.

Attempting to cast the issue as a national emergency, the US president went into graphic detail about murders and violent assaults committed by a tiny number of illegal immigrants.

He also railed against gang violence, drug smuggling and human trafficking, and attempted to put responsibility for a partial government shutdown at the feet of Democrats in Congress, despite announcing last month he would be “proud” to close US federal agencies over the issue.

Mr Trump’s favourite news channel, however, was quick to highlight a number of inconvenient facts he failed to mention.

“The government statistics show there is less violent crime by the undocumented immigrant population than by the general population,” Fox News anchor Shep Smith said moments after the address.

“He talked about drugs crossings at the border, but government statistics show much of the heroin actually comes not over the unguarded border, but through ports of call.

“He talked about undocumented crossings over the past months. In fact the number of undocumented crossings over the southern border have been steadily down the past 10 years and the government reports there is more outward traffic than inward traffic.”

Mr Smith also pointed out the trade deal with Mexico that Mr Trump claimed would fund the wall is not yet complete, as well as correcting the president’s claim that law enforcement had requested the billions in border wall funding. It is in fact he who requested it.

“And it’s he who said he would own the shutdown,” Mr Smith concluded.

Mr Trump’s attempt to force Democrats to grant the $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in funding for his wall looks set to fail, after Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the party’s two leaders in Congress, dismissed the president’s first national address from the White House as an attempt to stoke “fear and malice”.

The government shutdown is now in its 18th day.