In mid-July 2025, a video began circulating on social media claiming that Mexican rescue workers who assisted flood victims in Texas were arrested and deported by U.S. immigration authorities — with the support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
One TikTok post featuring the video captioned "Mexican rescuers arrested in flood," amassed over 7.1 million views, 835,000 reactions, and 183,700 shares, as of this writing.
@user876153022127 #Texas #Mexico #breakingnews #news #america #usa #fyp ♬ original sound - user876153022127
The footage spread on social media platforms including X (archived), Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook.
The video appeared to show Abbott, saying: "I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods." A narrator then described a dramatic scene in which Mexican volunteers crossed the border to assist flood victims calling for help from their rooftops. According to the narration, immigration agents confronted the volunteers, pointed guns at them, threw them to the ground, and arrested them. The narrator condemned Abbott for allegedly supporting the arrests, claiming he insisted that anyone crossing the border without authorization, even to save lives, must be detained.
However, none of this actually happened. While Mexican volunteers have indeed provided assistance during the 2025 Texas floods, there was no evidence they were arrested or deported. No credible news sources, official government statements, or verified records supported the claim that any Mexican rescue teams faced such treatment.
Additionally, the video of Abbott was digitally created, likely with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software. The altered clip was sourced from a legitimate news conference Abbott held on July 8, 2025, but the remarks about Mexico and deportations do not appear in the original footage. Neither The Associated Press nor C-SPAN coverage of the event contained any mention of Mexican volunteers or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations.
What actually happened
The viral video appeared to show Abbott saying: "I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods. They didn't have authorization, I've confirmed it. " A narrator then elaborated:
While dozens of families were calling for help from their rooftops, these volunteers crossed the border with train dogs, ropes, and first aid kits. They carried no weapons or drugs. They came to help, but were treated like criminals. Immigration agents aimed their guns at them, yelled that they had no authorization to be there, threw them to the ground and loaded them into a van, as if they were criminals. It was all caught on video. And the worst part? Just a few feet away a family was still trapped inside their home. No one came to rescue them because the only people helping were already in handcuffs.
The narrator further condemned Abbott, claiming he justified the detention of the Mexican volunteers:
The most outrageous part was the reaction of the Texas governor. Instead of condemning what happened, he supported it. He said anyone who crosses the border without permission, even to save lives, must be detained. You heard that right. Saving lives is now illegal. One of the rescuers managed to say before being taken away, "We didn't come to invade, we came to help." This scene shows more than just an arrest. It marks the line that's been crossed day warning of what's already happening, that even those who come to save lives can now be treated as enemies. Comment "shame" if you believe this crossed every line. And share this video before it gets deleted or bury under water in silence.
As we explained in a separate article, Mexico did provide assistance during the 2025 Texas floods, but it came primarily from volunteers, not official federal deployment. Despite this documented involvement of Mexican volunteers, however, there were no credible reports of any of them being arrested or deported by ICE.
Google searches for relevant terms, such as "Mexican rescuers," "arrested," Texas flood" or "ICE," "detain," "volunteers," and "Texas flood," yielded no credible results. The alleged arrest of foreign rescue volunteers in a disaster zone is the kind of event that would attract significant media attention, but no reliable sources reported on it.
Texas governor video is a deepfake
The video of Abbott circulated in social media posts was digitally altered, likely with the use of AI. The footage was taken from a legitimate news conference held on July 8, 2025, but neither The Associated Press nor the C-SPAN broadcast of the event included any mention of Mexico or ICE deportations.
Further analysis using the Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector assigned the video a 19/100 authenticity score, indicating that "The sampled voice is likely a deepfake."
(Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector)
Additionally, a search (archived) for the alleged Abbott quote returned only social media posts sharing the video. If Abbott had actually made such a statement, it would have been reported by reputable news outlets, but no such reporting existed.
Apart from the deepfake footage — digitally fabricated content created using artificial intelligence to manipulate or entirely generate audio and video that appears to be real — the video incorporated authentic images and video clips showing flood damage in Texas, as well as generic stock footage. The fabricated narrative was layered over these visuals through the narrator's voiceover, which told the false story of Mexican volunteers being arrested.
For further reading, check out our collection of 13 Texas flood claims we have investigated.