Says President-elect Donald Trump posted on X that he will “be giving Staten Island to New Jersey.”
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Staten Island Ferry boats at the St. George Terminal, Aug. 4, 2022, in the Staten Island borough of New York. (AP)
Is Trump giving Staten Island to New Jersey? He didn’t say that, despite what social media posts say
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President-elect Donald Trump has discussed making Greenland part of the U.S. and reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal.
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However, we found no evidence of Trump saying he will change the New York-New Jersey border and make Staten Island part of the Garden State.
For hundreds of years, New York and New Jersey battled over ownership of Staten Island. In 1894, voters on the island chose to become a New York City borough. But could the island now become part of the Garden State? An Instagram video claims President-elect Donald Trump has proposed that.
"Have you seen what Trump said?" a man said in the Jan. 11 video. "I don’t know if he can do this but he said it." The man then reads what appears to be an X post screenshot attributed to Trump.
"Not only will we expand the US to Greenland and the Panama (US) Canal but I will also be giving Staten Island to New Jersey," Trump’s purported post said. "(Four) boroughs is more than enough! You're welcome!"
The Instagram video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)
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But this post is inauthentic. Trump has said he wants the United States to reestablish control of the Panama Canal. He has also asked Denmark to give Greenland to the U.S. "for national security purposes." But he has not said he wants to make Staten Island part of New Jersey.
We searched Trump’s social media accounts, including on X, for this statement attributed to him and found no evidence of it. We found some posts that appear to share the screenshot as satire but others, including the Instagram video, presented the supposed screenshot as a real Trump statement. We found no news reports that Trump said he will give Staten Island to New Jersey.
It is also unclear whether the president would have the power to unilaterally change states’ boundaries. For such a change to occur, the states’ legislatures need to agree and Congress must approve the deal, according to the Interior Department.
We rate the claim that Trump posted on X that he will give Staten Island to New Jersey False.
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived link), Jan. 11, 2025
Instagram post (archived link), Jan. 11, 2025
Instagram post (archived link), Jan. 7, 2025
Historic Richmond Town, Consolidation and Secession, accessed Jan. 13, 2025
NYC Archaeological Repository, Consolidation of the Five-Borough City, accessed Jan. 13, 2025
Staten Island Advance, History: A timeline of Staten Island, Apr. 21, 2010
Reuters, Trump will not rule out force to take Panama Canal, Greenland, Jan. 8, 2025
U.S. Geological Survey, Boundaries, areas, geographic centers and altitudes of the United States and the several States with a brief record of important changes in their territory, accessed Jan. 14, 2025
Staten Island Explorer, The Untold Story: Why is Staten Island a Part of New York?, accessed Jan. 14, 2024
New York Post, What to know about Staten Island and how it joined NYC, Aug. 30, 2023
The Hill, Greenlandic prime minister ‘ready’ to talk with Trump, Jan. 11, 2025
BBC News, Trump ramps up threats to gain control of Greenland and Panama Canal, Jan. 5, 2025
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Is Trump giving Staten Island to New Jersey? He didn’t say that, despite what social media posts say
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