NO, the rumor that 10,000 Syrian refugees arrived in New Orleans is NOT TRUE

by SooperMexican

We’ve been asked to confirm a rumor going around the internet that 10,000 Syrian immigrants have been relocated to New Orleans.

So you know that old saying, “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is?” Well there’s a corollary for the internet – if it’s really crazy and it outrages you and completely confirms your political biases, it’s probably not true either.

And that’s what’s going on here.

Now we could have posted that story as true and gotten tons of clicks and views, like some other disreputable websites have done with deceptive headlines. But we’d rather be honest with you.

So here’s the truth.

There’s like two families who have settled in New Orleans from Syria.

From Fox News in Lousiana: 

The flood of refugees migrating from the terror in Syria and Afghanistan has begun to have a trickle effect in the New Orleans area.

“We had served two families, we’re expecting one more soon, and we do not know how many more, but we expect more,” said Martin Gutierrez of Catholic Charities, which is part of the Archidiocese of New Orleans.

Catholic Charities has targeted services for helping refugees.

“So it’s a matter of uniting the families, which is something that the church really promotes, obviously. Some of them don’t have relatives and we try to help them become integral parts of our communities,” Gutierrez said.

Wow. Everyone freak out.

It IS the case that Obama is planning to bring in many more Syrian refugees, possibly as many as 10,000. But it’s not the case that there are 10,000 Syrian refugees in New Orleans all of a sudden.

Here’s a map of where refugees have been resettled already. 

Now look, maybe those two families just happen to be rife with ISIS sleeper cell members, who knows? But the point is this – the rumor is a stupid one, so don’t spread it with crappy sources. You make us all look dumb when you spread rumors as facts.

Now go share, tweet, and post this article like you would have done if the exaggerated story had been true. 


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