Coinciding with the U.S. midterm elections, a video purportedly recently filmed in Texas circulated on social media, showing what its publishers described as an “Islamic invasion” of the state.
The clip shows a crowd of women dressed in black on a street in Houston, the largest city in Texas, a state that has maintained its Republican identity in its top positions since the 1990s.
The video's spread came at a sensitive time, as accounts presented it as evidence of “Islamic encroachment” and “control over Houston,” coinciding with unprecedented gains by Democrats in traditionally Republican strongholds.
Who published the video?
The story began when an account named (Ryan Fournier) posted the video on Facebook, claiming: “This is not Baghdad or a war zone... this is Houston, Texas,” asserting that what the video shows is the result of “crime-friendly policies and open borders that have completely destroyed cities.”
He also issued an inflammatory call to the public, saying: “Vote like your life depends on it this November, because it literally does,” attempting to exploit the scene and link it to election issues.
Additionally, American singer Sean Feucht shared the video on his Facebook account on October 28, accompanied by the phrase, “This is downtown Houston, Texas today.”
In his post, he called for “the reclamation of this city and the entire state” through worship, prayer, and voting, and invited people to join a worship event taking place in Houston on New Year's Eve, achieving hundreds of thousands of views.
Subsequently, other accounts shared the video along with inflammatory and warning phrases, with some directly linking the scene to the election outcome.
One commenter wrote that what is shown in the video is what Democrats want for all of America, urging voters to choose Republicans at various polling places to stop what he described as “Islamic takeover.”