Fake Rubio Quote Falsely Targets Abdul El-Sayed
A viral Facebook claim attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about investigating El-Sayed's immigration status was found to be unsupported.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Immigration
Live Poll
Do you trust political claims about candidates' citizenship circulating on social media?
A Facebook account falsely attributed a quote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying authorities would investigate Abdul El-Sayed's immigration status. Snopes found no evidence Rubio or the State Department made such an investigation.
Why it matters
The false claim circulated in the days before Michigan's midterm election, raising questions about misinformation targeting a Senate candidate's citizenship. El-Sayed's campaign and local and national outlets say he was born in Michigan.
Snopes searched Google, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo and found no evidence Rubio said he or the State Department was investigating El-Sayed's immigration status. The Facebook page that first posted the claim on August 7 described some of its content as satirical.
The players
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio is the U.S. Secretary of State, whose name was falsely attributed to the quote about El-Sayed.
Abdul El-Sayed
Abdul El-Sayed is a Michigan Senate candidate born in Rochester Hills who was the target of the false immigration claim.
Snopes
Snopes is a fact-checking website that investigated the claim and found no supporting evidence.
The details
Social media users attributed the quote to Rubio, but Snopes found no record of it. El-Sayed's campaign said he does not hold dual Egyptian nationality and that someone had falsely told him he did, after a January Washington Free Beacon report.
Timeline
August 7: Satirical Facebook page first posted the Rubio claim.
January: Washington Free Beacon reported El-Sayed's claimed dual citizenship.
October: The account spread the claim twice on Instagram, and Trump cast doubt on El-Sayed's nationality in Florida.
November 3: The claim circulated as Michigan voters headed to the polls.
Legal Context
Fabricated quotes attributed to federal officials, like the one falsely linked to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, follow a pattern fact-checkers such as Snopes have documented in prior election cycles. The claim's reliance on immigration status echoes past efforts to question candidates' citizenship.
Readers should verify quotes attributed to officials against primary sources before sharing them. Candidates' citizenship claims can be checked through campaign statements and reporting from established outlets.
The takeaway
Before sharing a quote attributed to a public official, check whether a credible outlet has confirmed it. Satirical pages can look like news, so verifying the source matters.
Further reading
Explore more on Immigration coverage tied to Michigan's Senate race.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Snopes.
Live Poll
Do you trust political claims about candidates' citizenship circulating on social media?
