A video showed dozens of people, mostly clad in black, walking up a spiral ramp, some carrying U.S. flags and others recording the scene on their phones.
“Heading to Texas to stop the Biden Border Invasion. We’ve. Had. Enough,” read the text on the Jan. 28 Instagram video. It appeared to refer to legal battles between Texas and the Biden administration over border security.
Screenshot from Instagram
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
But the video doesn’t show people heading to Texas to protest now. The video is 4 years old. The protesters gathered for a different issue. And the protest was nowhere near Texas.
The video was filmed in 2019, when right-wing protesters and antifa clashed in Portland, Oregon.
The claim also circulated on X, with one Jan. 26 post drawing a Community Note that said the footage is from 2019 in Portland. The note cited an X post by Ford Fischer, News2Share editor-in-chief, who attached a YouTube video of the 2019 event.
The News2Share YouTube video showed far-right groups including the Proud Boys at an “End Domestic Terrorism” rally against antifa.
The YouTube footage does not show the exact same scene that the Instagram video depicts, but some people appear in both clips. For example, a man with glasses, brown cap, scarf and backpack who is seen up close in the Instagram video also appears in the News2Share YouTube video at the 2:44 timestamp.
Using satellite imagery, we verified where the Instagram video was shot. We identified features in the video, such as buildings, that corresponded with a satellite image of the view from the spiral ramp next to Morrison Bridge in Portland. The colors of the boxes show how they match.
Left image screengrabbed from Instagram post, right image screengrabbed from Google Earth
There are efforts to organize people who want to visit the Texas border to stop migrant crossings.
But this video doesn’t show that. We rate that claim False.
Truth-o-meter Ruling
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
-
The video is from a 2019 protest in Portland, Oregon.
-
How does PolitiFact decide our ratings? Learn more here.
Statement
Context
an Instagram postSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Instagram post, Jan. 28, 2024
X post, Jan. 26, 2024
X post by Ford Fischer, Jan. 26, 2024
YouTube video by News2Share, Right-Wing Groups Hold "End Domestic Terrorism" Rally Against Antifa - Portland, Aug. 18, 2019
Google Maps search
Google Earth search
The New York Times, Antifa and Far-Right Groups Face Off in Portland as Trump Weighs In, Aug. 17, 2019
Business Insider, A convoy calling themselves 'God's army' plans to head to the Texas border to stop migrants from entering the US, Jan. 27, 2024
PolitiFact, Razor wire and a blocked Border Patrol. What’s going on in Eagle Pass, Texas?, Jan. 24, 2024
Translations
Language: en