Fact Check

Trump Wants to Deport American Indians to India?

Reports that President Trump said he was going to deport Native Americans back to India are fake news.

Published March 6, 2017

 (Digital Media Pro / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Digital Media Pro / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
President Trump tweeted that Native Americans should be deported back to India.

On 13 February 2017, the entertainment web site The Postillon published an article reporting that President Trump had expressed an intent to deport Native Americans "back to India":

As part of his plan to improve national security and combat illegal immigration, US President Donald Trump intends to send around 3 million American Indians back to where they came from — India. He is to sign an executive order to this effect this week.

In an interview with Fox News, President Trump described Indians living in the USA as lawless warriors with a history of attacking and killing US citizens. He claimed, “I’ve seen it in all kinds of TV documentaries. Horrible attacks on good Americans using hatchets or bows and arrows. You can’t trust these Indians.”

President Trump consulted with the appropriate members of the government and found that most Indians do not possess the relevant immigration documents. “That means they are here illegally. I had to act.”

This article, which was later aggregated by the web site NativeAmericans.news, also featured two images purportedly showing tweets on the subject sent by the President:

Neither the story nor the accompanying tweets were real.

The Postillon is a "satire" web site that does not publish factual stories, as noted in the site's FAQ section:

1. Are these true news and stories?

No, everything you can read here is satire and therefore all made-up. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

In addition to the satirical origins of this story, we searched President Trump's twitter feed for the above-displayed tweets. Neither of these tweets ever showed up on Trump's timeline.

This is hardly the first time that tweets from President Trump have been fabricated. As we've seen on multiple occasions, it is surprisingly easy to create and share a fake tweet.

Sources

The Postillon.   "Trump Wants to Deport American Indians to India."     13 February 2017.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.