Donald Trump repeatedly made false and misleading claims about immigrants “eating pets” and his connection to Project 2025, among other topics, during his debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

At the first debate of this presidential cycle in June — when Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee — moderators took a completely hands-off approach to fact-checking. The light moderation meant that lies and half-truths, most often from Trump, went unchallenged during the prime-time debate.

Below are the facts about some of the incorrect claims made during Tuesday’s debate.

Trump Makes False Claims About Immigration

Donald Trump has been making a number of false claims about immigration, including saying that immigrants are “taking over the cities… They’re coming in by force.”

The facts: That’s not true. While some U.S. cities have seen an influx of immigrants, most have arrived legally, with work permits or permission to remain while their cases are processed through the courts.

There is no widespread violence in these cities, and immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born immigrants, according to several large studies, including one by the conservative Cato Institute.

Trump claims immigrants are ‘eating pets’ in Ohio town

Trump repeated an unsubstantiated claim that immigrants in an Ohio town eat pets, only to be told by the moderator that there was no evidence to support that claim.

“In Springfield they eat the dogs, the people that came here, they eat the cats… they eat the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a disgrace,” the former president said.

The story about migrants allegedly eating pets has been circulating in right-wing media in recent days and has been echoed by Trump’s running mate JD Vance.

The factS: These are false and unsubstantiated claims.

“You mention Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News has contacted the city manager there. He told us that there are no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” moderator David Muir told Trump.

The Springfield News-Sun reported Monday that police “have not received any reports of pets being stolen or eaten.”

Trump and Harris argue over ‘best’ or ‘worst’ economy

Trump boasted that the US had the “best” economy under his administration, while Harris noted that he left the US with “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”.

The factS: They’re both wrong: Trump by a big margin, and Harris by a small margin.

While unemployment rose to its highest level since the Great Depression immediately after the pandemic, it fell again after Trump took office.

Meanwhile, Trump’s “best economy” line has been the bane of fact-checkers since he took office. Best is a very vague term, but by a variety of measures, including GDP, unemployment, the trade deficit, the economy was far from peaking.

Here are some final numbers from his term, compiled by FactCheck.org:

• The economy lost 2.7 million jobs. The unemployment rate rose 1.7 percentage points to 6.4%.

• Wages grew faster than inflation, with average weekly earnings for all workers rising 8.4% after inflation.

• After-tax corporate profits rose and the stock market set new records, with the S&P 500 index rising 67.8%.

• The international trade deficit that Trump promised to reduce has widened. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the highest since 2008, rising 36.3% from 2016.

• The number of people without health insurance increased by 3 million.

• The federal public debt rose from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion.

• House prices rose by 27.5% and the homeownership rate increased by 2.1 percentage points to 65.8%.

Trump denies involvement in Project 2025

Trump denied knowledge of Project 2025, a 900-page plan for aggressive, right-wing reform of virtually every aspect of the federal government.

Project 2025 proposes to strip the federal government of many appointed positions and instead fill agencies with more political appointees who align with and are more likely to adhere to Trump’s policy prescriptions.

The facts: While Trump has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from the platform, which seeks to eliminate reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights and voting rights, his policies align closely with Project 2025.

As The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang reported, “Trump knows the Heritage Foundation well and has spoken at its events, and[Kevin]Roberts, the Heritage leader, has previously said he and Trump have spoken on several occasions. Project 2025’s authors and supporters include many former Trump administration officials.”