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In early September 2016, the confluence of Hurricane Hermine and a viral comment made by a televised Donald Trump supporter (about how taco trucks would be appearing on every corner in the U.S. should Trump lose the presidential election) revived interest in Mexico's September 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina: On 30 August 2016, the Facebook page for Mic. published a video reporting that Mexico's purported response to Hurricane Katrina was an encouraging moment which counteracts the notion the country is constantly in need, adding that when Mexico sends its people across our border history shows they've sent their best and bravest: Hurricane Katrina marked the costliest natural disaster in American history and the third most deadly, claiming at least 1,800 lives after the failure of levees caused catastrophic flooding in some of New Orleans' most populous areas. Katrina was both newsworthy and culturally significant, inspiring multiple television documentaries and programs as well as rumors that continue to circulate years after the fact. The latter circumstance was likely due to the chaos that ensued after Katrina, as myriad accounts surfaced well after the floodwaters receded and the news media had moved on to other stories. Mic.'s assertion that Mexico sent troops across the American border to assist what was by most accounts a stilted federal response to the tragedy was news to many social media users when it cropped up again in August 2016. Mexico's response to Hurricane Katrina was well-documented at the time, but rarely included in retrospectives and long-form accounts of the storm and its aftermath, leading many social media users to question whether the claim was truly accurate. In July 2015, the Associated Press published archival footage of Mexican soldiers providing aid in Biloxi: A few traces of the years-old news story remained online as of 2017: Although Mexico's response to Katrina was often overlooked in historical accounts of the disaster, the accounts are completely true. Mexican troops crossed the border in a 45-vehicle convoy on 8 September 2005, providing material and physical aid to several areas of the Gulf Coast devastated by Katrina; the Mexican army offered hundreds of thousands of meals and tons of supplies to those in need and performed hundreds of medical consultations during a time when the United States was struggling to provide aid to its own citizens in devastated areas. Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on 25 August 2017. As relief efforts were underway two days later, President Donald Trump tweeted: Twitter users responded to President Trump's tweet, reiterating the claim about Mexican troops and Hurricane Katrina: Mexico's government also responded to Trump's tweet, releasing a statement that read in part:
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