CLAIM: An update to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ background check policy allows people in the U.S. illegally to purchase firearms.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. No such update has been made. Federal law prohibits people in the country illegally from purchasing or possessing firearms, with “limited exceptions,” an ATF spokesperson told The Associated Press. The ATF does not have the power to change federal law, only implement it.
THE FACTS: Amid accusations from Republicans that President Joe Biden’s migrant policies are to blame for the recent killing of a nursing student in Georgia, social media users are falsely claiming that the ATF is making it easier for people who enter the U.S. illegally to obtain certain lethal weapons.
Many posts include a video of a woman who says that her husband, who owns a gun shop, told her that “the ATF has made updates to their background check policy and effective today, they give an exemption to illegal immigrants to be able to purchase firearms.”
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One post on X that shared the video had received more than 5,700 likes and shares as of Wednesday.
But the ATF has made no such update — nor does it have the power to do so.
“It is unlawful for any person who is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States to purchase or possess a firearm,” Kristina Mastropasqua, a spokesperson for the ATF wrote in an email. “There are limited exceptions to these prohibitions that allow for the possession of a firearm issued for use by a federal, state, or local government or agency.”
Mastropasqua continued: “The federal laws governing the purchase and sale of firearms are the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act. ATF enforces those statutes as enacted by Congress. ATF does not make or change the laws, that role is reserved for Congress. Depending on the jurisdiction, state and local laws may also apply to the sale and purchase of firearms.”
The Gun Control Act, originally passed in 1968, prohibits licensed gun dealers from selling firearms to anyone who “is illegally or unlawfully in the United States.” ATF regulations outline how the agency implements federal law, which it has no power to amend.
These regulations, including those related to background checks, do not include any exceptions to federal law that would allow people in the U.S. illegally to purchase firearms.
The woman in the video spreading online also claims that the ATF’s alleged policy update “strangely coincides with California, New York, and Chicago making it legal for illegals to be police officers.”
Kirstan Conley, a spokesperson for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, told the AP that a police officer in the state “must be a citizen of the United States,” a requirement that has existed since at least 1909.
In California, police officers no longer need to be a U.S. citizen, but must be authorized to work in the country under federal law, according to Meagan Poulos, a spokesperson for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. The citizenship requirement was removed by a 2022 bill.
The Chicago Police Department confirmed that its most up-to-date information regarding eligibility is available on its website, which lists either U.S. citizenship or legal residency as a requirement for its officers. However, the website notes that a 2023 bill that took effect on Jan. 1 “may provide a pathway in the future for certain non-citizens with work authorization to be employed as police officers,” similar to how California’s bill did last year.
Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was found dead near running trails on the University of Georgia campus last week. A Venezuelan citizen named Jose Ibarra has been arrested on murder and assault charges in connection to her death. Ibarra was previously arrested in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, amid an unprecedented surge in migration and released to pursue his case in immigration court, the AP has reported.
It is unclear whether Ibarra applied for asylum, according to the AP. Federal officials say he was also arrested by New York police in August for child endangerment and released, though New York officials said Sunday they had no record of his arrest.
Republicans have blamed the Biden administration’s migrant policies for Riley’s death. Georgia House Republicans in particular are now pushing to require every eligible police and sheriff’s department to help identify undocumented immigrants, arrest them and detain them for deportation.___This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.