Fact check: Post falsely claims Greg Abbott celebrated sending migrants into 'freezing cold'

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The claim: Image shows a tweet from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott celebrating sending migrants into 'freezing cold'

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been sending buses of migrants from Texas to other states, and particularly to Democrat-led cities, since April.

Now, a viral image purportedly shows a tweet from Abbott in which he claims to have celebrated Christmas Eve by sending migrants out into the "freezing cold."

“We celebrated Christmas Eve by putting migrants on a bus and kicking them out into the freezing cold,” reads the supposed tweet. "May the joy of Christ's birth fill your heart as it did ours. Merry Christmas from the Abbott family.”

A screenshot of the purported tweet was shared in a Dec. 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) that garnered more than 400 shares in four days.

Some commenters believed the image was fabricated, while others expressed anger over the supposed message from the governor.

“God forgive you Abbott and friends,” one comment read.

But there is no evidence Abbott published such a tweet. The image appears to have originated as satire.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the image for comment.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

No record of Abbott sending tweet

USA TODAY found no record of the purported tweet on Abbott’s official Twitter account or on archived versions of his account.

There are several clues that suggest the image is fabricated. The font of the tweet does not match the standard Twitter font. The font also does not align with the edge of the image as it does in legitimate tweets, and the background color behind the text is inconsistent.

In addition, the image of the purported tweet was posted on Dec. 26 to Reddit, where it was labeled as satire.

Lead Stories and Reuters also debunked the image.

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image that purports to show a tweet from Abbott celebrating sending migrants into the "freezing cold." There is no record of Abbott sending such a tweet, and the image shows signs of fabrication.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim Abbott tweeted about migrants and Christmas