Hundreds of people reportedly rushed the United States-Mexico border on Sunday, March 12, after a rumor alleged that migrants would be allowed to cross into the United States. American media reported that Mexican drug cartels were responsible for the chaos after spreading misinformation on social media.
Fox News’ Bill Melugi also reported that this misinformation caused the rush of more than 1,000 migrants to the Texas border.
As reported by American media outlets, a Facebook post claimed that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would allow migrants to cross the El Paso bridge if they showed up with children or had an extreme asylum case. A female migrant told the outlet that the misleading posts were a “lie” and the migrants were met with tear gas. Meanwhile, women and children were desperate, waiting for weeks to finally arrive in the United States.
The migrants were stopped by the barrier and remained on the Mexican side shouting: “Open up for us!” to the U.S. officers. After a certain time, the migrants ran back toward the Mexican side, the Associated Press reported.
According to Camilo Cruz, who works with the U.N. migration office in Ciudad Juarez, the rush across the bridge may have been sparked by false rumors. There was “a rumor that they were going to let them cross massively, particularly people who arrived with children,” Cruz told the reporters.
For Cruz, the rumors are a recurrent problem. About a month ago, messages began circulating “that there were going to be buses on the U.S. side to take them to Canada ... and when they arrived, they were told it was a lie.
American Officials Blamed the Chaos on Drug Cartels
Texas Department of Public Safety and National Border Patrol Council officials discussed the crisis, which was fueled by a false Facebook post that went viral, telling migrants that the U.S. border was open near El Paso.
“What we saw at El Paso, that's an example of failed border policies. That's why we're seeing this mad surge of people coming across the border and also waiting in Mexico,” said a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, the migrants were “posing a potential threat to make a mass entry,” and physical barriers were put up to restrict their entry at the Paso Del Norte International Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
Barricades also were used in El Paso for a short time Sunday afternoon at other border crossings, including the Bridge of Americas and the Stanton-Lerdo bridge, said spokesman Roger Maier.
“A lot of these groups out there are not expecting agents to be there. So when some of the agents actually do encounter them and try to take them into custody, we're seeing more people, more of our agents getting assaulted. So it's now a whole different issue, trying to get back to normal,” National Border Patrol Council Vice President Jon Anfinsen said.
Meanwhile, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez said that drug cartels are trying to get as many migrants as possible to flood the border to distract law enforcement from smuggling operations.
According to the officials, the cartels want to expose more vulnerable gaps along the border, so they can bring across criminals, fugitives, or drugs, whatever the case may be. Olivarez said that it became crucial that the federal government moves to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations.
Misinformation Negatively Impacts Migrants
Our previous blog highlighting the impact of misinformation on migrants concluded that migration became one of the most polarizing issues when people consider migrants to be a threat to an exclusive and allegedly superior identity that has to stay untarnished by foreignness.
People can think that misinformation can only affect migrants on the economic level. However, misinformation can also affect migrants’ mental health, integrity, and understanding of the migration contexts in their original countries, in the countries of transit, or even in the countries of destination.
Even worse, misinformation might amplify stereotypes about migration and migrants and also contribute to the injury or death of migrants, which could have happened at the border between the United States and Mexico.
Many actors target migrants with misinformation and false claims, including ethnic groups and communities, scammers, and trafficking groups or drug cartels, as suggested in this case of the rush to the Texas border.
And as misinformation can also impact journalism reporting on migration, journalists should verify online content, apply the intersection of sources rule, and make a difference between official sources, human sources, and eyewitnesses.
Since biased and unproven reporting can hurt migrants in different ways, including at the legislation level, journalists must also be aware of the sensitivity of migration reporting and predict the consequences of publishing. They also have to ask if their story can be used to promote a particular issue or policy before making the publishing decision.
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