False claim video shows soldier allowing migrants to illegally cross border | Fact check
The claim: Video shows US military member 'opening border gate,' allowing illegal immigrants into country
A May 16 Twitter video (direct link, archive link) shows people walking through a fence gate while being watched by a soldier dressed in camouflage.
"JUST IN: Uniformed US soldiers caught on video opening border gate and allowing ILLEGAL MIGRANTS to enter private property where they are swiftly picked up and bussed away," reads the video's caption.
The video was retweeted more than 3,000 times and shared on Facebook more than 50 times in two weeks.
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Our rating: False
The video shows migrants being taken into custody after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. They were already on U.S. soil when they passed through the gate in the fence, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said. The soldier, a member of the Missouri National Guard, was assisting federal authorities.
Migrants in video were already on US soil
The video was posted on Twitter days after the end of Title 42, a set of pandemic-era immigration rules that made it easier for the U.S. to expel migrants at the southern border.
But it doesn't show a member of the U.S. military allowing migrants to enter the country illegally, as the post claims. The people shown were in custody.
"The individuals (in the video) had already crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico, were on U.S. soil, and are subject to U.S. immigration laws," Dennis Smith, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Paste BN.
Smith said anybody who illegally crosses the border is now subject to the "lawful pathways" rule. It says people are "presumed ineligible for asylum" unless they have been denied asylum in another country through which they traveled, or they meet "certain limited exceptions," according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"Those who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the (U.S.) will be removed," Smith said.
Fact check: Video of frustrated migrants at US-Mexico border has no connection to Title 42
Col. Lindsey Decker, a spokesperson for the Missouri National Guard, told Paste BN the video was captured May 15 in Eagle Pass, a city in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The soldier standing near the fence gate was working in support of federal immigration authorities, Decker said.
The social media user who posted the video could not be reached for comment.
PolitiFact and the Associated Press also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Dennis Smith, May 30, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Lindsey Decker, May 30, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Paste BN, May 11, Title 42 is over; Biden says new approach at southern border will take time to work
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, May 11, Fact Sheet: Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule
- Associated Press, May 18, Video prompts false claims that soldier allowed migrants to cross border illegally
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