IRS Has Not Introduced Immigrant Housing Tax Incentive, Contrary to Posts

There is no new tax incentive for families who house immigrants in exchange for labor.

A conservative satire account called U.S. Ministry of Truth had posted the claim on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Feb. 16, saying, “JUST IN: President Biden announces tax incentives for families willing to take in slav—migrants in a new ‘Housing for Labor’ initiative. ‘You can now apply to keep a migrant in your home in exchange for cooking, cleaning, picking crops, and landscaping.’ – via @IRSnews.”

There is no such announcement on the IRS X account. Also, the photo featured in the U.S. Ministry of Truth’s post shows President Joe Biden signing legislation, but it has nothing to do with immigration. The picture, from the White House Flickr account, shows Biden on June 3 signing an agreement to raise the debt ceiling.

Other fact–checking outlets have written about the claim, and the U.S. Ministry of Truth hasmocked them for “fact-checking a satire account.” But the problem with content posted by self-described satire accounts is that such claims get copied and reposted by other accounts without the satire disclaimer, so social media users have no way of knowing the claim is supposed to be a joke. We’ve written about many other similar examples over the years.

In this case, screenshots of the original X post are circulating on other platforms without any indication that the claim was intended to be satirical. For example, one California politician shared the meme with his 229,000 followers on Instagram, and he included this message: “Modern day slavery signed into law.”

But, as we said, the claim is made up. “Modern day slavery” has not been codified in the U.S.