Immigrants

Are Congressional Democrats planning to halt Social Security payments in 2024? No, that's not true. The claim is a work of satire put out by a network of sites aiming to fool conservatives into believing and sharing the posts - posts that are often copied and pasted on "real" fake news sites without the satirical disclaimer. The Democrats have not…

Does a video showing U.S. military vehicles being transported on trains indicate the country is getting ready for martial law? No, that's not true: The video was uploaded to YouTube on March 3, 2013. This old video is currently being posted in various Facebook groups and pages to falsely suggest martial law will be imposed to combat the novel coronavirus…

Did U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claim Hitler held Jews in detention camps for being illegal immigrants. No, that is misleading, and the claim seems to be a new spin on a controversy sparked in Summer 2019 by the liberal New York Congresswoman, who claimed the U.S. government is running concentration camps on the southern border. The site running the story…

Did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say that they fear illegal border crossings may increase the spread of the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: The headline of an article in The Washington Times is not supported by the reporting in the story. The article did not quote any official as saying any such fears exist. The claim appeared…

Was a DNC group caught on video teaching illegal immigrants how to vote illegally? No, that's not true: A video purporting to catch someone with a voter registration group linked to the Democratic National Committee was edited to inaccurately to show its interaction with a man who falsely claimed not to be a U.S. citizen. The group was not connected…

Did U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quietly delete his tweet criticizing President Trump's China travel ban as "premature" and a "war against immigrants"? No, that's not true: The tweet being shared was completely fabricated. Twitter's policy team alerted Lead Stories that the tweet seems "to be a fake" and does not appear in archives of deleted tweets by politicians.…

Does the United States spend $900 billion on welfare for undocumented immigrants - money that could go toward funding veteran programs? No, that's not true. The suggestion has been making its way - again - around the internet and has evolved since the earliest discovered claim in 2009. With the evolution, the cost has shot up dramatically, from $338.3 billion…

Did Bernie Sanders say undocumented immigrants are "entitled" to government benefits during a campaign rally in Texas? No, that's not true: The candidate for the Democratic nomination for president said that his administration will be about "understanding that all of our people, and when I say all I also mean the undocumented in this country -- that all of our…

Does a study confirm that illegal immigrants collect more welfare benefits than American families? No, that's not always true: A 2016 study that is still being shared online has already been shown to exaggerate the cost of immigrant welfare use. Some of the tables included deep within the story actually paint a completely different picture and offer a more nuanced…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump say that Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law need to leave the country? No, that's not true: Trump never explicitly said that. The quotes have been making the rounds on social media and via email chains for almost two decades, each time substituting different countries and world leaders who never made the…