Washington D.C., Apr 9, 2021 / 09:00 am America/Denver (CNA).
Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley on Thursday said a viral video of their work with migrant children on the U.S.-Mexico border is “inaccurate and unauthorized.”
In the video published on April 6, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – known for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax – alleges that a man driving a car with migrant children outside a Catholic Charities humanitarian center in McAllen, Texas, was “smuggling” the children. The video has been viewed more than one million times on Twitter, a social media platform from which Jones remains banned for violating its policies.
In a Thursday press release, Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley said the video was “inaccurate and unauthorized,” and accused Jones’ website InfoWars of targeting “vulnerable children and families.” Catholic Charities operates the center.
Sister Norma Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley, said in a statement that the “illicitly taken video of families and children peacefully entering the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen is a contrived misrepresentation of the work of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.”
“The video clip is a staged confrontation interrupting the goodwill of someone providing assistance in the form of transportation for three mothers and their children to the Humanitarian Respite Center,” Pimentel said.