Did ICE Arrest Mexican Flood Volunteers? No, Deepfake
PLUS: White House Duped by April Fools’ Prank; Monthly Federal Budget Surplus Was Not Historic; The Latest Anti-Vax Hoax
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In today’s edition, we expose how a deepfake of the Texas governor was used to spread the false claim that ICE arrested Mexican volunteers aiding in the flood recovery. We also reveal how the White House was tripped up by an April Fools’ Day prank to promote a disputed health claim; we debunk the widely shared myth that the June 2025 federal budget surplus was historic; and we show how a hidden-camera sting by a right-wing activist sparked a false claim about Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine.
Plus: NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. Deepfake Video Claims ICE Arrested Mexicans Who Helped Rescue Texas Flood Victims
What happened: Liberal U.S. social media users are spreading a deepfake video of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to advance baseless claims that immigration agents arrested Mexicans who volunteered during the early July 2025 flood rescue efforts in Texas.
Context: On July 4, flash floods struck in and around Kerr County in south-central Texas, killing at least 133 people, while another 97 people were still missing as of July 17.
Among the emergency responders were volunteers from a fire department in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico — a city near the U.S. border, 150 miles from Kerr County — according to multiple news outlets. The Mexican firefighters drew attention from liberal U.S. social media users, who commended their efforts amid the Trump administration’s border crackdown.
A closer look: Starting on July 12, liberal social media users posted a video showing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott supposedly stating: “I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods. They didn't have authorization, I’ve confirmed it.” After Abbott finishes speaking, an unseen narrator in the video says that the Mexican volunteers were “treated like criminals” by ICE agents who “pointed their guns at them” and “threw them to the ground.”
You can watch the video here:
Film director and liberal activist Morgan J. Freeman (not the Oscar-winning actor) reposted the video on X and stated, “Mexicans who saved lives during the Texas flood are now being arrested.” The post received 1.1 million views and 25,000 likes in one day.
Liberal Bluesky user @mary1kathy.bsky.social also posted the Abbott deepfake, captioned, "rescuers from Mexico arrested by ICE and Hot Wheels condones the arrest!” (“Hot wheels” is a pejorative nickname for Abbott, who uses a wheelchair.) The post received 729 likes and 525 reposts in one day.
Actually: The video of Abbott’s comments is a deepfake.
NewsGuard analyzed the video’s audio with AI detection tool Hive, which concluded that the video was 99.6 percent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.
The footage used in the deepfake matches a video of Abbott at a Kerr County news conference that was published on YouTube by ABC News (NewsGuard Trust Score: 87.5/100) on July 8, 2025. NewsGuard reviewed the footage and transcript and found that Abbott never said anything about Mexican volunteers or their supposed arrests.
Asked if there was any factual basis for the claim, Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris told NewsGuard in a July 14 email, “of course not.” NewsGuard found no reports of the arrests in credible media or official statements.
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2. White House Apparently Duped by Joke Post About In-N-Out Burger
What happened: The White House apparently fell for an April Fools’ prank by an In-N-Out Burger fan account, falsely claiming in a July 14 memo that the California-based burger chain switched to beef tallow — a supposed health upgrade — as proof that the Trump administration is delivering on its “Make America Healthy Again” pledge.
Context: Beef tallow, a rich, savory fat rendered from beef, has been praised by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who says that when used for frying, it is a natural, healthier alternative to seed oil, which requires chemicals to be extracted. Many health experts have said Kennedy’s claim is baseless.
A closer look: A July 14 memo posted to the official White House site titled “President Trump Delivers on MAHA Push” stated that “a growing group of leading companies have taken steps to improve the food supply.” Among the actions that were singled out: “In-N-Out announced it … transitioned to 100% beef tallow.”
The memo linked to an X post from account @innoutburger_ that stated: “It’s official. In-N-Out will be transitioning to 100% pure beef tallow. The change is set to become effective on 05/01/2025 at all In-N-Out locations.”
Actually: The beef tallow announcement was posted by a self-described “fan account” of the fast-food chain as an April Fools’ joke.
The fan account posted the statement on April 1, 2025, at 11 a.m. Thirty-eight minutes later, the account replied to that post with a graphic stating “April Fools,” adding, “Before this gets out of hand.”
In fact, In-N-Out Burger uses sunflower oil to cook its fries, Denny Warnick, the chain’s chief operating officer, told the San Francisco Chronicle (Trust Score: 100/100). “Information was recently published in error stating that In-N-Out Burger has transitioned to beef tallow for cooking French fries,” he stated. “We continue to work on an upgrade to our current sunflower oil, however we have not yet made a change.”
By July 15, the White House memo had been updated and no longer included the claim about In-N-Out Burger switching to beef tallow. However, the White House did not include any note indicating that the original release contained a false claim.
NewsGuard emailed the White House press office asking about the White House’s promotion of the false claim and why there was no disclosure when it was removed. In an emailed response, White House spokesman Kush Desai stated: “The media’s obsession with covering anything but the facts, like how the Trump administration is working with companies, including In-N-Out, to remove artificial ingredients from our food supply, is exactly why public trust in the press has plummeted to record lows.”
Tricks of our trade: Want to make sure you are ready for the next April Fools’ Day? Consider the following:
The @innoutburger_ X account has a blue check mark, suggesting that it is verified. However, since November 2022, any X account with a verified phone number and a subscription to X Premium can receive a blue check, regardless of its authenticity. Also, the underscore in the account name is a red flag — official brand accounts typically use a handle that matches the company name, without alterations.
The bio for @innoutburger_ states: “Not affiliated with In-N-Out. This is a fan account posting accurate up to date information.”
The post was uploaded on April 1 — a date best known for trickery — and the top reply to the post was from the same account, indicating it was a joke.
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3. False Claim of the Week: The Trump Administration Achieved the U.S. Government’s First Monthly Budget Surplus in 20 Years in June 2025
NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that the Trump administration achieved the U.S. government’s first monthly budget surplus in 20 years was deemed the “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it. Given those three factors — in addition to its significant subject matter — its potential for harm makes it our False Claim of the Week.
Debunk: No, the June 2025 Federal Budget Surplus Was Not the First in 20 Years
By Jack Olson
What happened: Conservative social media users are falsely claiming that President Donald Trump achieved the first monthly federal government surplus in 20 years in June 2025, celebrating the supposedly rare achievement as proof that Trump's tariffs and other economic policies have been successful.
Context: On July 11, the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service reported that the federal government had a surplus of $27 billion in June 2025.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the surplus was bolstered by increased customs duties, decreased spending, and some timing quirks because June 1 fell on a Sunday, so first-of-the-month June payments went out in May. Without this timing issue, the CBO estimates June 2025 would have shown a $71 billion deficit.
A closer look: Conservative social media users claimed in posts that received millions of views that Trump’s policies were the reason for what many called the “historic” surplus.
Pro-Trump X user @ExxAlerts said in a July 11 post, “BREAKING: For the first time in 20 YEARS, The United States Government has reported a BUDGET SURPLUS.” The post received 1 million views and 22,000 likes in four days.
Conservative X user @OpenSourceZone repeated the claim in a July 11 post, stating, “Breaking: US Posts its first June budget surplus in 20 years Per Treasury Report.” The post was shared by White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, garnering 361,000 views and 4,900 likes in four days.
Actually: The U.S. government ran a monthly budget surplus just two months earlier, in April 2025, and also did so six times during the Biden administration alone, according to official Treasury Department data.
Indeed, seven other June surpluses have been recorded since 2005 — in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, during the Bush and Obama administrations, federal reports show.
Monthly surpluses are often the result of quirks in the timing of cash flowing into the government from taxes collections. The last annual federal budget surplus occurred in 2001.
NewsGuard sent an email to the White House press office requesting comment on Miller’s reposting of the false claim and inquiring whether he intended to correct the record but did not receive a response.
4. In Case You Missed It … Why We’re Moving Beyond “Misinformation” and “Disinformation”
On July 9, NewsGuard’s AI and Foreign Influence Editor McKenzie Sadeghi wrote a commentary explaining NewsGuard’s decision to retire “misinformation” and “disinformation” as primary labels in favor of more precise words that describe what a piece of content actually does, such as whether it fabricates facts, distorts real events, or impersonates legitimate sources.
“In today’s fractured information ecosystem, one person’s ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’ is another’s truth,” Sadeghi wrote. “And in that ambiguity, bad actors win.”
Read the full commentary here.
5. Undercover Video Does Not Prove J&J COVID Vaccine Was Untested
By John Gregory
What happened: Social media posts and articles on websites with a history of spreading false claims are using a July 15 video published by conservative activist James O’Keefe to claim that there was no research supporting the safety and efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine before it was authorized by the FDA in early 2021.