She said she didn’t write the flyer
The Case of Resource Center Matamoros (RCM): After a Crowded Outburst, Someone Isn’t
The logo for Resource Center Matamoros (RCM), a local group serving asylum seekers appears on the flyer, as well as the name of its founder, Gabriela Zavala.
The story has been attacked by a group of people, and no evidence has been provided. Our international bombshell reporting has stood the test of time.
The final post in the Heritage thread reads, “This flyer obviously seeks to prey on unsophisticated illegals and encourages them to illegally vote.” It quickly racked up 9 million views, it was boosted by the owner of X.
Among those who questioned the Heritage thread was Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin, who regularly covers border issues. “I am extremely skeptical of this,” Melugin posted on X. “There’s plenty of controversy with some NGO’s, but this flier seems fake or doctored, even at first glance.”
“If I can’t tell you exactly who it was and really have it in evidence, I’m not going to go out there and accuse somebody of something,” Zavala said. She is not willing to do the same thing to anyone else because she feels that whoever made the flyer “smeared” her name and put it through the whole national public spotlight.”
The founder of the group didn’t write a flyer but she did not encourage people to vote. “I was almost in a state of shock,” she said about the moment she saw the Heritage thread. “And I said, ‘Wow, you know, this is completely untrue.'” She immediately started receiving threats online.
“No one who crosses illegally can vote,” Martínez said. He knows that anyone who gets an appointment to enter through a U.S. port of entry is going to be treated the same.
The HIAS Resource Center, a site for migrant workers, is no longer operational: NPR interviews with Rubin and Caas
The site hasn’t been staffed for years, according to people who work with migrants, as confirmed by NPR. Glady Cañas of Ayudándoles a Triunfar and Andrea Rudnik of Team Brownsville both told NPR that there is no longer a formal camp at that site.
In an interview with NPR, Rubin said he was tipped off to the existence of the flyer by a shelter worker in New York who said a migrant had received one in Matamoros. He said the video of the flyers was shot by an anonymous source with a “close connection” to his team.
There are also inaccuracies in the X thread. The Resource Center Matamoras is a location where the flyers are shown in the video.
“Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open,” read the last two lines of the flyer in awkward Spanish.
The first two sentences of the flyer appear to be an old description of the organization copied directly from the website and run through Google Translate into Spanish. The arrangement of HIAS and the office ended in 2022, according to both groups.
The flyer was made on the English-language website of RCM and it was used by whoever it was. She doesn’t have the time to update it.
“Bienvenidos” is not the same as “Bienvedinos” in this case. Zavala is not a native Spanish speaker, but she checks her writing in Spanish to make sure it’s correct.
The Oversight Project X Thread: Did the U.S. Reach Out to the CCP About the Importation of Fentanyl into the United States?
Howell, a former attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, acknowledged that the Oversight Project did not reach out to Zavala before publishing the X thread because “it was in the immediate public interest to know about the invasion in the United States.” He added, “Would the United States reach out to the CCP Did the Chinese Communist Party want to verify the intel about the importation of Fentanyl into this country? Of course not.”
Rubin said that when he came to check out the flyer he asked to verify it because he had previously been kidnapped by the Gulf Cartel there, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. I have to keep a low profile because I’m in enemy territory. The cartel literally told me, ‘Never come back here again.'”
I was not sure how to respond. Zavala said that he didn’t know if he should respond. If I say something, is it going to make the fire go up in flames? Will this cause people to make more threats?
She said it bothered her that no one had bothered to check with her about whether she or anyone at RCM had written the flyer.
A “conspiracy theory” against illegals claiming to vote: Gabriela Zavala’s nonprofit organization and a response to threats of violence
April 15 started off as a typical day for Gabriela Zavala. She was busy with her family and running the small organization that helps asylum-seekers in Matamoros, Mexico.
Some NPR emails had racist language, and one said “Don’t think for one moment that we are not watching.”
The claims of illegals being instructed to vote in elections has been labeled a “conspiracy theory” until now.
In a statement Zavala said her group is not involved in politics and is focused on helping asylum-seekers. “We have never encouraged people to vote for anyone,” said Zavala, who added that she is well aware that noncitizens are ineligible to vote. She said she wouldn’t tell a person that they couldn’t vote, “Hey, go vote.”
Mike Howell, the executive director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, said the flyer is “accurate.” He says that the thread doesn’t accuse Zavala of authoring it. His organization’s posts made a flyer with her name amplified and highlighted Zavala and her organization. Later posts published by Heritage criticize and attempt to rebut media efforts to fact-check Zavala’s purported connection to the flyer. The flyer was the subject of threats of violence.
The thread reinforced a key narrative of how former President Donald Trump and his allies have made false claims about non citizenship in order to sway election outcomes.
If he is re-elected, Trump will continue with his policies to undermine the U.S. asylum system. Biden was critical of Trump’s policies when he ran for president in 2020. The emergency border policies that Trump implemented in the run-up to the convulsion of disease known as COVID-19 were continued during Biden’s time in office.
The Oversight Project: Countering the lies of Mr. Rubin, the president’s anti-government, and the perpetrators of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
“If the ground is being seeded with claims like these,” said Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an international think tank focused on extremism around the world, “then that may very well be another possible avenue to try to delegitimize democratic processes in this country.”
The flyer was discovered by a rightwing video site, according to the Heritage thread. Anthony Rubin uses undercover tactics in his videos. He has traveled across Latin America to film migrants in transit to the United States. He is a guest on websites that have spread conspiracy theories, such as Alex Jones’ Infowars, and has portrayed them as an invasion. Jones was ordered by juries in Connecticut and Texas to pay a combined 1.5 billion dollars to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for making false claims about the shooting.
The Heritage Foundation launched the Oversight Project in 2022 to investigate and provide “aggressive oversight” of the Biden administration. Howell declined to comment on the relationship between Heritage and Muckraker or whether Muckraker was being paid for the content.
“We’re going up against some powerful and dangerous people, and we aren’t interested in giving an org chart out, that’s why we’re working with anyone who’s on the same side as us,” he said, explaining that he was glad to work with
Terrones and Soros: a HIAS target of extremist propagandists and the source of the viral thread [Vorte biden conspiracy theory social media]
Hugo Terrones, RCM’s director, came outside to meet the men, who were never let inside. Terrones said that Anthony Rubin, who was speaking in broken Spanish, claimed he worked for HIAS. The exchange can be seen in the security footage. HIAS rented some office space in the past.
Other posts suggest a connection between Zavala and RCM and liberal billionaire George Soros and point out that he has given money to HIAS. While the intent of the posts is unclear, Soros, who is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor, is the target of many far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
The HIAS released a statement saying it does not support the message of the flyers. HIAS has become a target for misinformation online, according to Beth Oppenheim, the organization’s chief advancement officer. She said that the other campaigns against HIAS have talked about “great replacement” theory, which is a lie that Jews are bringing immigrants into the US to replace white Americans. Several mass shooters have cited the theory as justification for their acts.
To date, it is unknown who created the flyer. But right away, Zavala said, she understood one piece of the mystery behind the viral social media thread.
Source: A flyer in her name told migrants to vote for Biden. But she says she didn’t write it
The Matamoros Volunteer Rescue Mission: a video clip of two American men in flip-flops asking for a job before Trump gets reelected
Earlier on April 15, the same day the thread appeared, two American men wearing flip-flops rang the bell at RCM’s building in Matamoros and said they wanted to volunteer. The scene was captured by security cameras. The footage was given to NPR.
Rubin says in the clip, “All we’re trying to do is help as many people as possible before Trump gets reelected.” Zavala said we’re in the same boat.
Rubin told NPR he was a volunteer and HIAS worker. “Absolutely, we were down there, and we were inquiring whether or not it would be possible to volunteer,” Rubin said.
Terrones told NPR that Rubin had asked him unusual questions, including whether Terrones knew of organizations in the U.S. that help migrants vote for Biden. Terrones said he kept answering, “No.”
asylum-seekers can use the U.S. government app to make appointments to avoid crossing the border illegally, according to Biden. But appointment slots are scarce, so migrants arriving in Mexican border cities like Matamoros end up waiting weeks or months in dangerous and difficult conditions.
Reply to the Heritage Foundation’s Flyer on “No Close Elections for a Noncitizen’s Registered and Voted Illegally”
After the flyer was posted, two Republican legislators took posters of the flyer to a budget hearing with Mayorkas. They had already presented articles of impeachment against him.
“How can Congress and the American people have confidence that the outcome of close elections will not turn on the votes of noncitizens who have registered and voted unlawfully?” Bishop asked.
The Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation’s news site, later published a roundup of Republican lawmakers’ responses to the flyers, in which many of them called for stricter voting laws.
It is already illegal for noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections, and studies have repeatedly shown it is rare. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson promoted federal legislation that would implement new citizenship documentation requirements.
The University of Baltimore’s Gilda Daniels told NPR that it would be harder for some eligible citizens to vote if they had to prove their citizenship.
The affidavit’s account, which was dated April 19, four days after Heritage’s first thread, wasn’t verified by NPR. The events that are described in the affidavit are not given a time frame.
No death threats at the migrant camp — a “hotbed” for political activity, according to a CNN interview with Jill Biden
Heritage’s X thread calls the migrant camp a “hotbed for political activity.” It includes photos of a tour that Jill Biden took of the camp when her husband was running for president in 2020, a photo of a Biden campaign sign hanging in the camp in 2021 and a photo showing “Bye Trump” balloons at the camp after the last presidential election.
Zavala said RCM, which did work closely with the camp during the time the photos were taken, did not put up any campaign signs. Zavala said she chose not to attend Jill Biden’s visit.
Rudnik, of Team Brownsville, remembers a volunteer from the U.S., who was not affiliated with an NGO, put up the “Bye Trump” balloons on her own. She didn’t know about the balloons at the time, but would have said it was not a good idea.
She was concerned that acts of violence, like the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas, have been inspired by immigration-themed conspiracy theories.
During an interview with The New York Times, he condemned death threats, and said he gets them all the time. He added, “No one should do it.”
There are people fleeing from extreme situations. “And if I have the resources and the capability to help them, I will.”
Source: A flyer in her name told migrants to vote for Biden. But she says she didn’t write it
The Associated Report on a Contribution by Rubin to “Helping As Many Illegals as Possible” [Muckraker, March 22]
NPR’s Audrey Nguyen, Texas Public Radio’s Gaige Davila and independent journalist Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas contributed reporting to this story. They said they were from Matamoros, Mexico.
The flyer is similar to the website text that hasn’t been updated in years and a phone number that has not been used for a long time.
Anthony Rubin can be heard on security camera footage saying that he and his brother previously worked with migrants “in Colombia, in Panama” and they wanted to volunteer.
A snippet from that exchange appears in the Heritage thread with a caption saying “RCM founder Gaby Zavala implied to[Muckraker] that she wants to help as many illegals as possible before President Trump is reelected.”
Within 12 hours of the flyer appearing online, members of Congress raised it in hearings and used it to justify a push for more restrictive voting laws.
