Immigrants

Are Black Americans descended from the original indigenous inhabitants of North America and not from enslaved persons taken from Africa? No, that's not true: This notion descends from the Moorish Science Temple, a pseudoscience organization that argues without evidence that Black people are of "Moorish" descent and the original indigenous group of North America. Black Americans are descendants of enslaved…

Did the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services give illegal immigrants citizenship in exchange for voting for Democrats for the rest of their lives? No, that's not true: A Homeland Security representative pointed out the satire disclaimer that can be found on the Real Raw News website and linked to an article debunking Real Raw…

Did the U.S. Army Cyber Command find evidence that immigrants lacking permanent legal status in Colorado used fraudulent state identification cards to vote for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections? No, that's not true: The claim originated on a webpage that is known for publishing satirical, fake takes on real people and issues in U.S. news and politics. The claim…

Are Pope Francis, the late Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Joe Biden members of the same family? No, that's not true: There is no evidence supporting this online rumor, which recycles a 24-year-old conspiracy theory. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram on October 14, 2022. The caption says: I KNOW SOME WEIRD SHIT WHEN I SEE SOME…

Are these posts proof that British elementary school students and kindergarteners are being taught to tolerate sexual abuse? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to authenticate pictures of a brochure about strangers who approach, with the brochure saying, "do not call him a pedophile." Posts about the brochure first appeared on a Russian social media platform, citing an un-named…

Does a video on social media in August 2022 show an act of aggression against a French priest? No, that's not true: The clip shows a 2020 incident in Guyana. Some of this claim's variations had such hashtags as "diversity," "multiculturalism" and "openborders," implying that the attacker could be an immigrant. According to previous media reports, it is not the…

Is it true that "not one real video has surfaced" from the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: There is an abundance of footage showing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on May 20, 2022. The post, which contained several claims and featured images of figures from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)…

Do 22 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, receive public benefits and vote illegally? No, that's mostly false: Two experts in public policy told Lead Stories that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States is closer to 11 million. Because they are not citizens, they cannot qualify for most public benefits and cannot vote in most…

Did a Democratic Pennsylvania state representative create a bill that enforces reproductive responsibility for men by requiring vasectomies for some "inseminators" and by offering a $10,000 reward for reporting "scofflaws" who don't submit? Yes, that's true, but an October 2, 2021, memorandum of co-sponsorship sent out by Democratic state Rep. Chris Rabb was extravagantly written, tipping off readers his was…

Is a letter rejecting AARP membership and criticizing President Joe Biden's "Socialist politics" from 2021? No, that's not true: The letter was written in 2009 during the administration of former President Barack Obama. A copy of the letter circulating online in 2021 included language that didn't appear in the original letter, including comments about the "Biden Regime" and "illegal perpetrators,"…