The claim accurately reflects that in polls, the majority of respondents across the political spectrum have said they support legal status for Dreamers. Support for giving Dreamers legal status consistently ranges from 60 percent to percentages in the mid-80s, and 50 percent to 70 percent for Republicans, across many different polls.
Ms. Pelosi used a commonly misstated etymology of an Italian slur.
Toward the beginning of her speech, Ms. Pelosi told a story of her ancestors’ migration and assimilation into United States society. She related the struggles of the current population of undocumented immigrants to the experience of her Italian grandparents, who heard the ethnic slur “wop” hurtled at them as shorthand for “being without papers.”
A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi attributed the etymological lesson to family lore, but scholars say otherwise.
In their book “Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language,” the linguists Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman explain that widespread misconception of the origin of the phrase and argue that it “has nothing to do with immigration documents, which weren’t even required of newcomers until 1918.”
Large waves of Italian immigrants began coming to the United States in the late 19th century, and the slur can be found in newspapers and magazines dating back that far. For instance, on March 13, 1915, The Times reported a story with the headline: “CALLED ‘WOP,’ SHOOTS TWO: Young Man, Avenging ‘Insult,’ Wounds Policeman Accidentally.”
The derivation of the word is not completely known, but there are some clues in etymological writings. H.L. Mencken discussed the origin of the word in his landmark 1945 book “American Language Supplement One.” Between entries for “guappo” and “dago,” Mencken explained how “wop” had “appeared often in the English newspapers, usually in a derogative significance” and might be used to “designate any European of dark complexion.”
She was largely accurate about Dreamers’ inability to ‘have a Social Security card, a passport, a driver’s license,’ but there are exceptions.
Undocumented immigrants cannot apply for a Social Security number; a United States passport; and, in most states, a driver’s license, but there are exceptions.
Twelve states, including California, Ms. Pelosi’s home state, issue driver’s licenses to people who cannot prove their lawful presence in the United States, but can offer proof of identity or meet certain conditions, such as a foreign birth certificate, passport, or consular card and evidence of current residency in the state.
Under current immigration law, those without legal work authorization cannot receive a Social Security number. But undocumented immigrants can obtain an “individual taxpayer identification number” to pay taxes (though they do not receive Social Security benefits).
She was wrong when she said that ‘20 percent of DACA recipients are Asian-Pacific Islanders.’
According the latest data from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 94 percent of DACA recipients are from Mexico, Central America or South America. Only about 19,000, or 3 percent, were born in South Korea, the Philippines, India, China, Indonesia and other Asian countries.
Many Asian-Pacific Islanders eligible for the program have not applied, according the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank. But even still, the percentage of potential beneficiaries — 6 percent, according to an estimate from the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit — is a fraction of the figure Ms. Pelosi cited.
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