Immigrant

Did U.S. Border Patrol find thousands of FEMA relief packages along the southern U.S. border in May 2025, which had been re-routed from hurricane-hit states for the benefit of undocumented immigrants? No, that's not true: That claim originated with a Facebook account that describes its content as satirical. America's Last Line of Defense is a frequent source of fake stories…

Did Indians or Pakistanis set fire to a church in Wales in April 2025? No, that's not true: In response to widely-shared social media rumors, South Wales Police told Lead Stories there was "no link to India or Pakistan at all" in their investigation into a fire at the Bethany English Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Port Talbot. Two local teenage…

Did U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi threaten that anyone saying "Fuck Trump" may get "15 years in El Salvador" for doing that? No, that's not true: The viral image with the supposed quote was not an authentic screenshot of Bondi's interview. In the picture circulating on social media, the contents of the lower banner were digitally replaced with a made-up…

Does a "loophole in U.S. law" legally grant permission to noncitizens to vote in federal elections if they believe they are U.S. citizens? No, that's not true: A professor specializing in election law told Lead Stories that what was referred to on social media as a "loophole" described such a narrow exception that "it's hard to imagine whom it might…

Are Muslim immigrants the reason why there are piles of garbage in the neighborhoods of Birmingham, England? No, that's not true: Refuse workers in Birmingham, England, are "taking all out indefinite strike action" starting on March 11, 2025. They began striking in January over job cuts, and for better pay. The garbage piles up because it is not being hauled…

Did the Canadian government threaten a "100 percent tariff on Tesla" in February 2025? No, that's not true: While the federal government in Ottawa was considering its options, the Department of Finance Canada said," The claim is false." Instead, proposals to impose a 100 percent tax on Teslas came from individual Canadian politicians, not the government itself. The implied claim…

Did the Federal Emergency Management Agency fraudulently send $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to "house illegal migrants"? It's complicated: A New York City Hall spokesperson told Lead Stories that New York "never paid luxury-hotel rates" and that about a third of the $59 million -- around $19 million -- covered "direct hotel costs." A Department of…

Is there evidence the Coca-Cola Company called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on their own workers in Texas and did several of them get deported as a result? No, that's not true: Online posts and videos making this claim lack details about the concrete place and time this supposedly happened and they offer up differing versions of events. A…

Did Elon Musk say Italians should stay in Italy and the Japanese should stay in Japan? No, that's not true: While speaking at a right-wing political event in December 2023, the tech billionaire argued that countries shouldn't rely on immigration to maintain their populations. Instead, he suggested that governments should promote higher birth rates and offer incentives for families to…

Does a photo show handcuffed and chained Indians being deported from the U.S.? No, that's not true: The photo shows people from Guatemala sitting on a military aircraft at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas awaiting deportation to Guatemala. The photo previously appeared in several January 2025 media reports. The claim the picture showed people from India appeared in a…