What we can VERIFY about claims a Mexican humanitarian organization distributed flyers encouraging migrants to vote for Biden

In April, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, posted a thread on X that claimed the Resource Center Matamoras, a humanitarian organization in northeastern Mexico, distributed Spanish-language flyers encouraging migrants to vote for President Joe Biden in November.

“The flyer reads: ‘Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open,’” the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project said in a post that included an image of the flyer.

The Heritage Foundation claimed Muckraker, a website that frequently posts about border issues, discovered the flyers throughout the resource center in Matamoras, Mexico, on the walls of port-a-potties and on a table inside the shelter.

VERIFY reader Seth tagged our team on X and asked us to investigate these claims.

THE SOURCES

• Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
• USA.gov
• Resource Center Matamoros
• HIAS, a global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees
• Gaby Zavala, founder and executive director of Resource Center Matamoros
• Ammar Moussa, director of rapid response for Joe Biden For President
• Independent VERIFY translation of the flyer

WHAT WE FOUND

Resource Center Matamoros says it did not create or distribute flyers in Mexico encouraging migrants to vote for President Biden. The Biden presidential campaign and HIAS, originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, say the flyers are fake and were made in an attempt to spread disinformation. Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections.

VERIFY was unable to independently confirm the origin of the flyers, and it’s uncertain if any migrants saw or received one at Resource Center Matamoros. We also found that the flyers contain inconsistencies, including misspellings and grammatical errors.

On April 17, Gaby Zavala, Resource Center Matamoros’ founder and executive director, told the Associated Press the organization doesn’t know who made the flyers and said her group “does not encourage immigrants to register to vote or cast ballots in the U.S.”

The Heritage Foundation’s X thread claimed that HIAS and Resource Center Matamoros were affiliated with each other, and that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas once sat on HIAS’ board. This connection drove additional claims that both HIAS and the Biden administration were using the flyers to try to influence the presidential election.

On April 16, HIAS called the flyers fake on its social media accounts and said they were “a clear attempt to spread misinformation about HIAS’ work to support refugees.”

“Let’s be clear: HIAS did not produce these flyers and we do not support their message. In addition, we have not occupied space at Resource Center Matamoros since April 2022 and do not have any volunteers in Matamoros, Mexico,” HIAS said on Instagram.

Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa told the Associated Press the flyers were disinformation and said they should be labeled that way on social platforms and websites.

Flyer Translation

Literal English translation:

Matamoros Assistance Center

Welcome Migrants!

The Resource Center is a 6 unit office center complex which is the home of HIAS, that offers legal assistance and assistance to obtain formal documents for the employment search and integration to the city of Matamoros while waiting to access the asylum process in the USA. We support the legal team by all possible means, including visiting the camp to deliver documentation or gather people for consultations before their audiences. Remember to vote for president Biden when you’re in the united states. We need another four years of his term to stay open.

Sincerely,

Founder

Gaby Zavala

When translated from Spanish to English, VERIFY found that the flyers appeared to pull language directly from the “Who We Are” section on the Resource Center for Matamoros’ website. The flyer also added two sentences, which do not appear on the organization’s website, saying migrants need to vote for Biden in Spanish. 

We also found that the flyers contained minor misspellings and grammatical errors, and certain words were in the incorrect tense. For example, “Bienvenidos,” the Spanish word for “welcome,” was misspelled, and the United States in Spanish was written in lowercase as “estados unidos.”

Federal voting laws in the U.S.

Federal law does not allow noncitizens to vote in federal elections for president, vice president and members of Congress.

All available evidence shows that noncitizen voting in federal elections is incredibly rare. While there have been anecdotal instances of noncitizens casting ballots, various states, including Georgia and North Carolina, have examined their voter rolls and found no indication of significant numbers of noncitizens voting in federal elections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: Lo que podemos verificar sobre afirmaciones acerca de una organización humanitaria mexicana que distribuyó volantes motivando a inmigrantes a votar por Biden