Arizona Billboard Directs Illegal Immigrants To California-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded photo of a highway billboard that tells illegal immigrants arriving to Arizona that they are not welcome there and offers directions to California where they can receive free housing, food, medical care and tax free jobs.
The Truth:
This is digitally manipulated photograph that went viral on the internet in early June 2010.
Our investigation team found some of the elements of this photo from other web sites on the internet, which is a good indication that this photo is a digital manipulation. The real billboard is owned by Clear Channel Outdoor Corporation in Arizona and TruthOrFiction.com is awaiting additional information from a company spokesperson.
The Arizona flag was taken from the Azbaseball.org web site. Some prankster, using image manipulation software, cut out the American flag from the original photo, then lowered the ball on the mast head of the flag pole over the Arizona flag. The flag was then copied and pasted just below faked billboard. Below on the left is the original photo and on the right is the manipulated image from the Arizona billboard:
The image below is of the Arizona Flag in the outline of the Grand Canyon State taken from a web site posted by the Arizona Department of Health Services. It is identical to the image on the billboard on the upper right hand corner.
updated 06/09/10