A Jan. 1 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a picture of a white truck surrounded by more than a dozen police officers.
"The person behind the terrorist attack in New Orleans last night cross (sic) the Southern Border at the Eagle Pass crossing 2 days ago," reads text within the post, which was originally shared on X.
The Instagram post garnered more than 500 likes in a day. Other versions of the claim were shared on Instagram and Threads.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared the claim on X, citing a Fox News report. And President-elect Donald Trump implied the attacker entered the country illegally in a Truth Social post, referencing the attack while saying, "the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country."
USA Today rating: False
There is no evidence the truck or attacker recently crossed the southern border. Fox News initially reported that the New Orleans attacker's truck passed the U.S. southern border two days before the deadly assault but later issued a correction that it had crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, in November 2024. The attacker was a U.S. citizen.