No truth to claim of $5,000 gift cards for people illegally entering the US | Fact check
The claim: The US government gives $5,000 gift cards to 'illegals'
A Dec. 6 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims the U.S. government gives undocumented immigrants direct financial assistance.
“Illegals breaking the law entering our country are handed a $5,000 gift card that you and I, the American taxpayers, paid for while millions of Americans are struggling and can’t afford to provide for their own families!” reads the text in the post. “Make this make sense!”
A similar version of the claim posted to X, formerly Twitter, was shared more than 3,000 times in 12 days.
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Our rating: False
An immigration expert said the claim is false. Officials with two federal law enforcement agencies confirmed their organizations do not hand out gift cards to undocumented immigrants.
‘Federal dollars are not going directly to migrants’
The claim appears to be rooted in a video posted on X on Dec. 5 by Republican senatorial candidate Mark Lamb's campaign. In the clip, Lamb, who is a sheriff in Pinal County, Arizona, asserts, "We have our government giving people that came into this country illegally $5,000 gift cards." He repeated the claim in another video posted Dec. 14. Neither video contained evidence.
But the claim is false, Michelle Mittelstadt, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute, told Paste BN.
Fact check: ‘Nonsense’ claim immigrants in the U.S. illegally don't pay taxes, mortgages, rent
“The federal government is not handing out $5,000 gift cards to border arrivals,” Mittelstadt said in an email.
There is no credible evidence of a federal program distributing gift cards to immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not hand them out, agency spokesperson Mike Alvarez told Paste BN. Neither does Customs and Border Protection, a spokesperson for that agency said in an email.
Mittlestadt said some people arriving at the border may receive plane or bus tickets to destinations they choose, but those are purchased by nonprofit groups, not the federal government. Others may be bused to a destination that appears on a predetermined list of options, with that transportation funded by a state or city government that may request federal reimbursement for some money spent on transportation, housing, medical needs and food, she added.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency allocated $364 million in 2023 to help cities and states offset the costs of the arrival of noncitizen migrants. But New York City alone spent an estimated $1.7 billion through July 2023 on migrants, and Chicago expects to have spent more than $250 million from August 2022 through December 2023, according to an analysis published in September by the Migration Policy Institute.
“The federal dollars have been far from sufficient to cover all the costs borne by state and local governments or non-profits,” Middlestadt said. “And federal dollars are not going directly to migrants.”
The claim echoes a misleading assertion that spread last year claiming ICE spends tax dollars on smartphones given to undocumented immigrants. While some migrants are issued cellphones, those devices are used solely for tracking purposes. They are unable to access the Internet or make calls and may only access a pre-loaded app that ensures the owner complies with the rules of their release, according to a 2022 Paste BN fact check. The program has been in place since 2018, when Donald Trump was president.
Paste BN reached out to a spokesperson for Lamb’s campaign and to the social media user who posted the claim but did not immediately receive responses.
The Associated Press debunked a similar version of the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Mike Alvarez, Dec. 15, Phone interview with Paste BN
- Michelle Mittelstadt, Dec. 14, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Customs and Border Protection, Dec. 12, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Migration Policy Institute, Sept. 27, New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Aug. 21, Fiscal Year 2023 Shelter and Services Program Fact Sheet
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