Video shows people climbing Spain-Morocco fence, not US-Mexico border
The footage, however, is not recent and does not show Mexico's northern border
(Reuters) - A clip depicting people climbing a high border fence separating the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa from Morocco traces to March 2022. The footage has been miscaptioned in social media posts claiming it was recorded at the U.S.-Mexico border as a COVID-19 border restriction known as Title 42 is due to end later this month.
One tweet with 2.8 million views at the time of writing reads, “This CRISIS is about to get a lot worse… Title 42 ends May 11th, 2023.. Pray for America..” (here). A video on Instagram features on screen text that says, “This is what the border really looks like. I’ll bet you haven’t seen this on the news.” (here)
Title 42 is a policy issued by former President Donald Trump allowing U.S. authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek asylum, as reported by Reuters (here). Many Republicans and a few Democrats fear its expiry will result in a rise in immigration to a level border authorities cannot manage.
More information about the end of the restrictions is viewable (here) (here)
The footage, however, is not recent and does not show Mexico’s northern border.
The video combines two clips that trace to a March 2, 2022 incident in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla, when the compilation was posted on Twitter by a Spanish politician (bit.ly/3LChLSX ).
The first video features in the first few seconds of a report from outlet La Gaceta de la Iberosfera (bit.ly/3nofMK1). Reuters could not find its exact location, but Google Street View imagery of the road next to Melilla’s border shows similar fencing (bit.ly/3HEgpWB)
A longer version of the second clip, recorded from the inside of a vehicle, is viewable in a report by outlet La Vanguardia (see second video, and note graphic warning for first unrelated video) (here). The location of this video is viewable on Google Street View (bit.ly/3NBHm0L) (ibb.co/pyP1kfd).
Reuters reported local authorities saying more than 2,500 migrants attempted to cross the Melilla border on March 2, 2022, and around 500 managed to reach Spanish territory (here here)
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. Videos in this clip were recorded in Spain’s Melilla border fence in 2022.
