Misinformation is always around us, spread by social media and word of mouth.
In recent years, elections have received more misinformation about them, and this year’s focus is on illegal immigrants voting.
Claims of illegal immigrants first circulated from a tweet made by Maria Bartiromo saying there were lines of illegal immigrants outside DMVs in Texas getting licenses and registering to vote.
These claims were debunked by Texas Officials from the Department of Public Safety. However, these claims caused investigates and the harassment of multiple Hispanic residents.
On an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Oliver debunks claims and shows multiple videos of Hispanic residents being interviewed and followed by cameras.
Oliver mentions a video produced by The Oversight Project, a branch of the Heritage Foundation that brought upon Project 2025, that dives into the claim of illegal immigrants voting. In this video, multiple non-citizens were interviewed about if they were legal and if they voted. The video was boosted on social media sights, but no evidence of any of the non-citizens in the video voting was found.
As a result of the video posted, conspiracies spread, which led to an 87-year-old activist, Lidia Martinez, standing outside her home in just a robe while her home was raided as a result of people questioning her status as a voter.
In the wake of misinformation about illegal immigrants voting during the election, reporter Deanna Sipe learns more about misinformation and how it affects those who misinformation is about.
