Fact Check

A Fake Tweet from Donald Trump

A viral anti-immigration tweet purportedly issued by Donald Trump is a fake.

Published Dec. 22, 2015

Claim:
Donald Trump tweeted that his "grandparents didn't come to America" to see the country taken over by immigrants.

In December 2015, Facebook users began sharing a quote, purportedly from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, about his immigrant grandparents and his anti-immigration stance:

trump grandparents

While it's true that Trump's grandfather Frederick Trump emigrated from Germany to the United States, and that Trump the candidate has made immigration reform a central plank of his platform the above-displayed quote was not uttered by Donald Trump.

The quote first appeared on the twitter account @McDonaldJTrump on 6 September 2015:

donald trump

This tweet issued from a Donald Trump parody account and not Trump's real Twitter account, as is clearly stated in the bio associated with the former:

I will make America great again because I myself am great. The J in my name does NOT stand for Joke. Also I have really great hair. I'm not Donald J. Trump.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.