Image shows migrants who crossed English Channel, not US-Mexico border | Fact check
The claim: Post implies image shows people crossing the US-Mexico border
A Jan. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows side-by-side images of a person being scanned by airport security and a group of people walking past a boat.
The text above the first image reads, "You at the airport," and the text above the second image reads, "Some random strangers at the border."
Several commenters appeared to believe the second image showed people crossing the southern U.S. border.
"We are being invaded," reads one comment. "Thanks Joe and the Dems."
The post was shared more than 500 times in less than two weeks.
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Our rating: Missing context
The implied claim here is wrong. The image shows people believed to be migrants crossing the English Channel, not the U.S.-Mexico border.
Photo shows people who crossed English Channel
In early February, the Senate narrowly voted against advancing a $118 billion legislative package that would have overhauled the country's border and immigration policies. The bill also would have provided aid to Ukraine and Israel.
The immigration reforms would have tightened asylum laws and created a new mechanism to shut down the border if illegal crossings reached a certain threshold, as Paste BN previously reported.
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The image in the Facebook post, though, does not show people at the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, it was published May 26, 2022, by The Independent, a British newspaper, with a caption that reads, "A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into Dungeness, Kent, on board the RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat, following a small boat incident in the Channel."
The article published alongside the image indicates more than 4,500 people were "detected arriving by small boats" across the English Channel in the first three months of 2022.
Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
AFP and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- The Independent, May 26, 2022, Afghans ‘largest group’ fleeing to the UK by crossing the Channel – figures
- Paste BN, Feb. 6, Biden slams Trump on blowing up border deal: 'He'd rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it'
- Paste BN, Feb. 7, Senate kills sweeping border, foreign aid deal – even as lawmakers eye Israel, Ukraine funding
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