US Senate candidate spreads false claims about migrant aid
FILE - Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. A U.S. Senate candidate has recently spread false information about the aid migrants receive from the federal government. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
CLAIM: The federal government gives people who enter the U.S. illegally a cell phone, a domestic plane ticket to a location of their choosing and a $5,000 Visa gift card.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. People who enter the U.S. illegally do not receive such assistance from the federal government, immigration experts told The Associated Press. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gives some immigrants phones, but they can only access a monitoring app called SmartLink. Those who cross the border illegally do not receive gift cards. And although limited federal aid can help get migrants where they intend to go, they typically must choose from a set list of destinations and are usually transported by bus, not planes.
THE FACTS: A U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona in recent days spread the false information in a video circulating on social media. The erroneous claims are similar to information that has been previously misrepresented online.
“When these folks come across and they’re processed, they’re being given a cell phone, a plane ticket to wherever they want to go in this country, so probably to a community near you, and a $5,000 Visa card,” Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, a Republican, says in the video posted to his profile on X, formerly Twitter.
He continues: “So while this Christmas season you’re struggling to keep your lights on, while you’re struggling to pay your rent, put Christmas presents under the tree for your kids, we have our government giving people that came into this country illegally $5,000 gift cards. That’s the truth, folks.”
An Instagram post that shared Lamb’s video had received more than 16,700 likes as of Wednesday.
But the federal government does not provide benefits like the ones that Lamb described to those in the U.S. illegally. Lamb did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.
Immigrants who participate in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program may receive phones instead of remaining in custody or wearing a tracking device such as an ankle monitor. But these devices have extremely limited abilities, the AP has previously reported.
They can only access an app called SmartLink, which is used to monitor immigrants after they cross the border. The phones are not connected to a cellular network and cannot be used to browse the internet or make unauthorized calls or texts. Instead, they use Wi-Fi, which allows program participants to complete scheduled check-ins, receive reminders about court hearings and access a database of community services, among other functions related to program compliance.
People who enter the U.S. illegally do not receive $5,000 gift cards from the federal government. Both ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the AP that the agencies do not hand out such cards.
The AP has previously reported that those in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for federal cash assistance, with exceptions for certain Cubans and Haitians. However, none of these benefits include a one-time payment of $5,000.
As for transportation, the federal government does not buy plane tickets to wherever people who enter the country illegally want to go.
“The overwhelming majority of migrants who cross the border have to pay for their own transport,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, told the AP. “There is no massive pool of money that is getting every migrant who crosses the border a plane ticket or anything like that.”
Federal funds have been used to reimburse nonprofits and local governments for money they spend transporting people who enter the U.S. illegally.
“Some migrants arriving from the U.S.-Mexico border may receive plane or bus tickets to their chosen destination, paid for by a non-profit organization,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute. “Others may be provided a free bus to a set list of destinations, funded by a state or city government.”
She explained that these entities have been able to request reimbursements from the federal government, but that “the federal dollars have not been sufficient to cover all of the costs.”
Reichlin-Melnick said that buses are used more commonly than planes in these situations.
ICE told the AP that the only purpose of domestic flights that it facilitates is to transfer people between detention centers as needed.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
