An image that has gone viral across social media purports to show a large number of migrants headed to the U.S. border in anticipation of Title 42 ending, the rule which allowed the federal government to reject asylum-seekers without a hearing during the pandemic. But the image, which has been shared by numerous politicians, is roughly five years old.
The image began circulating online this week and received major amplification from prominent figures such as former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. In a tweet on Monday, Kerik argued that the U.S. was being invaded at the behest of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
The spread of the image comes just days before May 11, when the Biden administration plans to announce the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, which will also trigger the de facto end of Title 42.
In an apparent attempt to quell his critics, Biden recently announced that he would be sending U.S. troops to the southern border to help manage the expected influx. Yet the planned efforts, which have received widespread criticism, have done little to deter backlash from Biden’s opponents.
The issue has led to a rapid uptick in immigration-related misinformation. Others that shared the aforementioned image include Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence under President Donald Trump.
Ironically, however, the image alleging to show migrants flooding the border under Biden was actually captured under Trump. The image was originally taken in 2018 in the southern Mexican city of Arriaga, where Honduran migrants were planning to travel well over 1,000 miles to reach the U.S. border.
Despite the false attribution, the image continues to spread across sites such as Twitter. In numerous examples of the tweet seen by the Daily Dot, no community notes attachments were seen issuing a correction either.
