And it’s clear those ICE motherfuckers ain’t in the top half.

“we don’t need no stinkin’ department o’ edumacation!”

I'd put that down to atrophied reading skills. Actual illiteracy is usually a sign that someone never learned, there's also functional illiteracy wherein someone can technically read and write but they aren't interacting with it beyond parroting the words.

That factoid keeps getting pulled out.

It's literally untrue, or at the very least misrepresented.

Half of the country of the USA have only passed 6th Grade English exams.

That does not mean they are incapable, just that they've only got a little piece of paper somewhere saying "I passed a test!" up to that point.

https://porchroot.substack.com/p/why-half-of-americans-read-like-theyre