FACT CHECK: Did Greg Abbott Say His Family Celebrated Christmas By Busing Migrants To DC?
An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows a screenshot of a tweet from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot saying he celebrated Christmas by sending migrants “into the freezing cold.”
Verdict: False
This tweet is digitally fabricated. Abbott did not send out this tweet nor make such a remark.
Fact Check:
Migrants were bussed to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Washington, D.C. in retaliation of border policies despite subfreezing temperatures, ABC News reported. The buses were initially headed to New York, where volunteers were ready to receive and support the migrants, according to The New York Times.
The Facebook image claims to show a screenshot of Abbott’s verified twitter account saying that his family is happy to send migrants away. The photo features Abbot smiling with his family.
“We celebrated Christmas Eve by putting migrants on a bus and kicking them out into the freezing cold,” the alleged tweet reads. “May the joy of Christ’s birth fill your heart as it did ours. Merry Christmas from the Abbott family.” (RELATED: Did Kamala Harris Resign The Vice Presidency?)
The image is digitally fabricated. This post appears nowhere on Abbott’s verified social media accounts account. There is also no record of it on the deleted tweet tracker website, Politwoops by ProPublica. There are also no credible news reports suggesting Abbott had made any such comments.
The photo was taken from Abbott’s social media pages. Abbott’s actual Christmas message read, “From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.”
Abbot previously sent busses of migrants to the vice president’s house and Martha’s Vineyard previously in September 2022, according to The Texas Tribune. The governor told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would make President Joe Biden see the border crisis “firsthand,” the outlet reported.
This is not the first time fake social media posts from government officials were the source of misinformation. Check Your Fact recently debunked a post claiming Kari Lake called former President Donald Trump the “fattest US president.”
