CLAIM: Video clip shows U.S. soldier opening a gate on a border fence and allowing migrants to enter the country illegally, in violation of U.S. code.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Federal officials say the migrants had already crossed the border and were already on U.S. soil when they passed through the gated fence. An immigration expert also rejected claims the soldier’s actions violated federal regulations dealing with undocumented immigrants.
THE FACTS: With last week’s end of asylum restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, social media users have been sharing videos purporting to show how migrants are now crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in droves.
One clip being widely shared online shows a group of migrants walking beside a tall chain-link fence and then passing single file through a gate while a U.S. soldier in military fatigues looks on. The group then boards a large white bus on the other side of the fence.
“American soldiers exposed on camera opening the gate for illegal immigrants entry to America, which is a violation of US code 1324 and 1327,” the text over the clip reads.
“A thorough investigation is needed,” wrote one Instagram user who shared the video.
But there’s nothing illegal about the scene captured on surveillance video Monday morning, say officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as an immigration law expert.
The federal agency said the migrants were already legally on U.S. soil, having earlier crossed the Rio Grande, which is seen in the background of the video.
“U.S. Border Patrol continues to enforce U.S. immigration laws,” CBP wrote in its emailed statement. “The individuals had already crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico, were on U.S. soil, and are subject to U.S. immigration laws.”
The agency added that anyone who crosses the border illegally is now subject to the “lawful pathways” rule, which took effect last week with the expiration of the pandemic-era asylum restrictions, known commonly as Title 42.
Under the new rule, people who enter the country illegally are generally not eligible to seek asylum unless they first applied for asylum in another country and were denied.
The agency declined to provide specifics about the incident, including where and when the video was taken, citing privacy concerns “associated with private lands.” But it said the migrants were transported to its processing center in Eagle Pass, Texas.
“CBP strives to transport migrants for processing in the safest and most expeditious manner possible,” the agency statement read. “This was the best location for pickup.”
Major Jeremy Idleman, a spokesperson for the Missouri National Guard, confirmed the video was captured in Eagle Pass on May 15. He also said the soldier standing at the gate had been part of a unit of Missouri guard members sent to Texas starting this fall to support CBP.
“These service members are providing mission enhancing support to CBP’s border security operations to enable CBP agents to conduct their law enforcement mission more efficiently,” Idelman explained in an email.
Idleman declined to comment on claims that the soldiers’ actions violated the U.S. codes cited in the post, but Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University in New York, dismissed the notion as “ludicrous.”
He said Section 1327 of the code is a “rarely-used provision” prohibiting people from aiding certain criminal and subversive foreign nationals from entering the country. Section 1324, the other statute cited in the video, penalizes people who “harbor” undocumented migrants.
Yale-Loehr also noted the migrants were taken in for processing — as is the agency’s protocol — and weren’t simply released into the country.
“The video doesn’t show any effort to harbor or hide undocumented migrants,” he wrote in an email. “Claims that federal officials are simply letting migrants enter the US illegally are unfounded.”
Located across the border from Piedras Negras, Mexico, Eagle Pass is part of Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which has increasingly become one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.
The city has also been the site of an ongoing turf war between the administrations of Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over border enforcement.
In one high profile dustup, Texas officials last year erected a chain-link fence with a locked gate around a local pecan farm, but Border Patrol removed the lock, arguing that it impeded its immigrant enforcement operations.
___
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.
