Mexico military exercise misrepresented as Los Angeles fire deployment
"When the flames spread, kindness crosses borders. Mexican firefighters arriving in over a dozen helicopters to help battle the #LosAngeles wildfires remind us of the power of humanity," says a January 10, 2025 TikTok post with almost 20,000 likes.
The same footage and claim have circulated elsewhere on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bluesky and YouTube -- including in Spanish.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the Los Angeles fires could be one of the worst natural disasters in US history, causing tens of thousands to flee their homes and potentially over $275 billion in property damage.
Newsom deployed thousands of state National Guard members, and the Biden administration pledged to send hundreds of federal firefighters.
On January 11, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced she would send a cohort of firefighters to assist California authorities.
But the video shared is unrelated. A reverse image search using keyframes revealed the same video was published on a Spanish-language Facebook page called "Mexico Aerospace and Defense" on January 7, days before Sheinbaum said she was sending aid (archived here).
A voice in the background of the video mentions the aircraft in the footage are Air Force "Cougar helicopters and 15 UH-60s" carrying out an operation as part of the nation's "external defense."
Contacted by AFP, the owners of the account confirmed they had filmed the helicopters on September 14, 2018 at the Santa Lucía military air base, north of Mexico City, during a rehearsal for an Independence Day parade taking place two days later.
A keyword search produced a 2018 article about the September 16 parade featuring Cougar and UH-60 helicopters from the Mexican Navy and Air Force (archived here).
A second keyword search revealed a September 16, 2018, video posted to then-president Enrique Peña Nieto's YouTube page of the actual parade in Mexico City, where the same helicopters fly over the capital about 32 minutes into the footage (archived here).
Images and footage of the Mexican firefighters released by Newsom show the group touching down at Los Angeles International Airport in a transport airplane operated by the country's air force, not a fleet of helicopters as the posts claim (archived here and here).
AFP has debunked other claims about the Los Angeles wildfires.
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All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Fact Check: Seriously, Noem didn't tell Congress Republicans voted for Jan. 6 rioters to work for ICE
Claim: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified to Congress that Republicans voted to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employ participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rating: Context: The rumor appeared to have its origin in an amendment Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove proposed on April 30, 2025, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing discussing budget resolutions for fiscal year 2025. The amendment proposed that the budget "may not be used to hire any personnel who participated in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol" for a role within the Department of Homeland Security. However, the amendment failed in a vote of 15-17. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem allegedly appeared before Congress and testified that Republicans voted to allow the employment of people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to be employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a rumor that spread on the internet in June 2025. Users shared the claim across social media platforms, where it was particularly popular on Facebook (archived, archived, archived), X (archived) and Threads (archived). The posts typically included an image of Noem on a ride along with ICE agents along with the text, "Kristi Noem, head of homeland security, admitted, UNDER OATH, that Republicans voted to allow January 6th rioters to serve in ICE roles. Including the ones who assaulted police officers during the attack." The posts also said, "Explains a lot about why ICE officers are wearing masks and refusing to show ID." 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The rumor also made its way into a letter to the editor published in the Arizona Daily Star, which read in part, "Kristi Noem told Congress that they were using Jan. 6 traitors as ICE personnel. They are criminals themselves, racist fascists. I suspected #47 was forming his own secret police. Noem is just a puppet." Snopes reached out to DHS and ICE for comment on these claims and will update this article should we receive a response. We also attempted to contact the author of the letter but were unsuccessful. In May 2025, Noem appeared at multiple hearings to address the DHS budget for fiscal year 2026. On May 8, she testified before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations for the subcommittee hearing, "A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security." The full hearing is available to view on YouTube. It includes no mention of the attack on the U.S. Capitol that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021. Then, on May 14, Noem appeared before the Homeland Security Committee for the meeting "A New Era of Homeland Security: A Review of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security." The full hearing is available to view on YouTube. The only mention of the Capitol riots occurred around 23 minutes in, when Rep. Bennie Thompson addressed National Police Week — observed May 11 through May 17 — in honor of law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. There was no mention of any allegations that Republicans voted to allow ICE to employ Jan. 6 rioters. Finally, Noem last spoke on the DHS budget before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on May 20. The full committee hearing, "The Department of Homeland Security's Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026," is available to view in full on YouTube. Noem made headlines during the same hearing when she was unable to correctly define habeas corpus. There was one mention of Jan. 6 during the May 20 hearing, which occurred when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., addressed alleged civil liberty violations against United States citizens, including an alleged air marshal whose "wife might've been at January 6 or something." While we cannot definitively say there are no Jan. 6 rioters currently deputized or otherwise working for ICE as of this writing, and Republicans did indeed vote down an amendment intended to prohibit funding being used to hire Jan. 6 rioters for DHS, it is false to say that Noem testified as much to Congress. - YouTube. Accessed 6 June 2025. ---. Accessed 6 June 2025. ---. Accessed 6 June 2025. ---. Accessed 9 June 2025. A New Era of Homeland Security: A Review of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security – Committee on Homeland Security. Accessed 6 June 2025. AMENDMENT TO THE AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE TO THE COMMITTEE PRINT. "Home." National Police Week, Accessed 6 June 2025. Ibrahim, Nur. "Kristi Noem Said Habeas Corpus Gives Trump Right 'to Remove People from This Country.' Here's What It Really Does." Snopes, 21 May 2025, Norman, Greg. "Federal Air Marshals Surveilled Trump Cabinet Member Gabbard in 2024, Rand Paul Says." Fox News, 20 May 2025, Testimony, Download. A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. Accessed 6 June 2025. "The Department of Homeland Security's Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026." Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Accessed 6 June 2025. Vail, David E. Leon. "Letter: Traitors from January 6 Are ICE Officers." Arizona Daily Star, 5 June 2025, Vote on Kamlager-Dover Amendment (#14) to the Committee Print ADS.
