No, photo doesn't show migrants leaving NYC before Trump takes office | Fact check
The claim: Photo shows migrants leaving NYC for Canada ahead of Trump presidency
A Nov. 14 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes an image showing several people stepping off a bus while others look on.
“REPORT: Buses are stopping at NYC shelters multiple times per day picking up migrants and driving them to Canada, in advance of the Trump migration crackdown,” reads the text on the image, which is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We are not prepared for what’s coming.”
Other versions of the claim circulated on Facebook, Instagram and X.
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Our rating: False
The photo dates back to 2022. It was included in a news article about migrants Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent to Chicago.
NYC program provides transportation for asylum seekers
The claim followed President-elect Donald Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. Trump has pledged to implement a mass deportation effort once in office and said he would use the military to do so in a Nov. 18 Truth Social post.
Canadian police have prepared for an increase in asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Canada border in light of Trump’s win, Reuters reported.
But the photo in the social media posts is unrelated to Trump’s re-election and predates it by two years.
The same image appears in 2023 article by the nonprofit local news outlet Block Club Chicago. The image caption says it shows migrants disembarking from a bus at Chicago’s Union Station on Sept. 7, 2022.
The article, a collaborative effort with Borderless Magazine, was a profile on Venezuelan migrants sent to Chicago at Abbott's direction. Abbott in 2022 began sending busloads of migrants to Democrat-led cities because of what he described as President Joe Biden's "inaction at our southern border" that was "overwhelming our communities."
Fact check: Image shows migrants who crossed English Channel, not US-Mexico border
New York was among the impacted cities. But contrary to the post's claim, the city does not have a program specifically to transport migrants to Canada ahead of Trump’s inauguration, said Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office.
The city does, however, have a "reticketing" service newly-arrived asylum seekers can use that provides transportation outside of New York. That could be another city, state or country if the individual has the proper paperwork, Garcia said.
Canada has been among the locations migrants have flocked to under the program, the New York Times reported in February 2023. But, of course, that trend existed well before Trump's re-election, to which the post attempts to link the program.
The city has purchased more than 45,000 tickets as part of the program, according to the mayor's office.
Paste BN has debunked an array of claims about photos supposedly related to Trump, including a false assertion that an image showed a crowd in New York before Trump’s October rally at Madison Square Garden and a false implication that an image showed Trump voting in the 2024 election.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact and India Today also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Liz Garcia, Nov. 19, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Block Club Chicago, Feb. 14, 2023, After The Buses: Meet The Migrants At The Center Of Texas’ Manufactured Crisis
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