Post wrongly claims lawmakers danced in Congress as migrants confronted troops | Fact check

The claim: Democratic lawmakers danced in US Capitol as migrants confronted Texas border troops

A March 21 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes two videos placed beside each other with on-screen text that reads, "And while you were at work today..."

One video shows a line of people dancing inside a legislative chamber and includes a caption that reads, "US Capital Democrats shooting a dance video for social media."

The other video shows a group of people confronting soldiers near a fence and is captioned, "El Paso, Texas Border."

The post was liked more than 1,400 times in five days.

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Our rating: False

The videos were not filmed on the same day. The first video shows a bipartisan group of Florida state lawmakers, not congressional Democrats, dancing in the Florida Capitol building for "Boots Day" in May 2023.

Video of dancing politicians is old, misrepresented

The post includes footage published by the New York Post that shows a group of migrants confronting Texas National Guard soldiers in El Paso, Texas, on March 21. Local news outlets reported on the incident, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the National Guard and state Department of Public Safety regained control of the area and would redouble razor wire barriers.

But the video of people dancing in the Instagram post first circulated on social media in 2023, months before the March 21 border confrontation.

It's also miscaptioned. It doesn't show congressional Democrats dancing in the U.S. Capitol, but rather Florida state lawmakers dancing on the state's House floor for "Boots Day" on May 2, 2023, according to The Florida Channel, a public affairs programming service located in the state Capitol. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers participated in the dancing, according to footage from the day's legislative session.

Fact check: False claim migrants in the US illegally need passports for air or land travel

The Instagram user who shared the video did not provide evidence supporting the claim when contacted by USA TODAY.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• The Florida Channel, May 2, 2023, Capitol Update – Nightly During Session – Tuesday, May 02, 2023
• Florida House of Representatives, accessed March 26, Session Videos for Legislative Term 2022 - 2024
• KTSM-9 TV, March 22, Latest on migrants who rushed border wall
• KFOX14, March 21, Group of migrants storm El Paso border fence
• El Paso Times, March 23, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar blames Operation Lone Star for recent chaos at the border
• New York Post, March 21, Over 100 migrants break through razor wire, knock down guards as they illegally cross El Paso border in wild scene
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, March 21, X post

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