Biden did not sign order giving immigrants $5,000 gift cards

"Executive order 9066 is rewarding these illegals with $5,000 gift cards. I'm busting my ass just to get more in debt every month because of Bidenomics," says a February 19, 2024 Facebook post.

On X, formerly Twitter, a similar post claims: "Horrific Evil Joe Biden’s Executive order 9066 is rewarding these illegals with $5,000 gift cards. Is Biden buying votes?" 

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Screenshot of an X post taken February 22, 2024

A wave of crossings at the US-Mexico border has made migration a major talking point in the US presidential election, with former president Donald Trump and other Republicans seeking to pin blame on Biden.

Conservative lawmakers in the House of Representatives voted February 13 to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing that Biden's immigration chief has failed to stem a surge of illegal entries across the southern border.

Claims that the administration is giving migrants $5,000 gift cards are false.

No such executive order appears on the White House website or in an archive of presidential actions maintained by the University of California-Santa Barbara (archived here and here). 

Biden's latest directive is aimed at strengthening cybersecurity in US ports, particularly given risks associated with Chinese-made cranes.

Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, authorizing the forced removal of people deemed a threat to national security during World War II (archived here). The action resulted in the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Biden issued a statement February 19, the Day of Remembrance of Japanese-American Incarceration, calling the order "shameful" and reaffirming the federal government's apology and support for civil liberties (archived here).

Months-old narrative

Claims of gift cards and free cell phones for migrants date back to at least December 2023, when Arizona sheriff Mark Lamb promoted them on Instagram, X and Fox News.

"When these folks come across and they're processed, they are being given a cell phone, a plane ticket to wherever they want to go in this country -- so probably to a community near you -- and a $5,000 Visa card," the Republican US Senate candidate says in a December 5 Instagram video.

US fact-checking outlet PolitiFact debunked those claims, reporting that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency does award grants to nonprofits supporting migrants (archived here), the money cannot be used for gift cards.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told AFP in a February 22 email that the agency "does not provide financial assistance to undocumented families."

AFP has previously fact-checked misleading claims of free smartphones for US-bound migrants, who may in some cases temporarily receive devices that may only be used to track their location and inform them about their court cases.

Lamb's allegation of free plane tickets also misses the mark.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement does transport migrants via commercial airlines and chartered flights (archived here), they are often taken to a detention center, back to their home countries or to another country that has agreed to accept them.

AFP contacted US Customs and Border Protection for additional comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims about immigration here.