SCREENSHOTS OF A fake headline are misleading people on social media into thinking that the Burke family have been granted asylum in America by Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump grants asylum status to the Burke family on the grounds of religious persecution,” the headline reads, atop an image featuring five members of the family, including Enoch Burke.

However, these images are fabricated. No such headline was published. The Burkes were in the US at the same time that the Taoiseach was meeting with Trump, but there is no indication that the family have sought or have been granted asylum. 

A screenshot featuring the headline was shared multiple times on Facebook, as well as on X, where it was viewed more than 325,000 times.

Enoch Burke was suspended from a Co Westmeath school after he allegedly interrupted a church service before following his principal around the room.

During that incident, he loudly complained about a request made to call a transgender student by the pronoun “they”.

However, he was suspended for his behaviour and not because of his opposition to that request.

Burke continued to turn up at school while suspended, prompting the school to successfully seek an injunction ordering him to stay away from the grounds while a disciplinary process against him was underway.

After repeatedly breaking court orders to stay away, Burke was fined, arrested and imprisoned (though he was repeatedly released when the school was out of term despite not purging his contempt).

Due to the initial incident allegedly being prompted by Burke’s opposition to using a trans student’s preferred pronouns, his supporters and family have falsely claimed that he was imprisoned for his religious beliefs, which do not acknowledge trans identities.

This is not the case. Burke was imprisoned for repeatedly attending the school where he was suspended from working, in breach of a court order. He has never been legally compelled to condone gender transition or to use preferred pronouns.

This week, at least four family members – including two of Enoch’s siblings and his parents – stood outside security barriers to the White House compound, holding up placards saying: “America need to know the truth about Ireland.”

The false headline about the Burke’s being granted asylum appears to be a response to the Burkes’ trip to America on foot of his case.

The screenshot purports to show a headline from the Irish News on 11 March, however a search of their website does not show any such article ever being published.

Nor has any other news outlet reported it, nor have the Burkes themselves.

Although it is unclear whether the headline was intended simply as satire, it is clear from some comments and reposts that it has misled readers.

“Wow. Just saw this on X about our friends, The Burkes,” one American pastor wrote on a Facebook post featuring the screenshot. “I pray it’s true. We will take them!!”

While in Washington this week, the Burkes held up protest signs, one of which displayed a photo of Enoch Burke detailing how many days he has served in prison (513), and another claiming Micheál Martin “denies Christian liberties in Ireland”.

Members of the Burke family are protesting in Washington DC on the outskirts of the White House where the Shamrock Ceremony will soon begin.

They did not want to speak to Irish media. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/riXzzis40x

— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) March 12, 2025

Enoch Burke was not at the scene with his family.

The group refused to engage with reporters at the scene.

Speculation had run rampant online that members of the Burke family would attend the shamrock ceremony with the Taoiseach and US President Trump that evening. 

However, that never transpired, though Burke’s mother and two siblings were forcibly removed from a St Patrick’s Day event in Washington, DC after disrupting speeches at an evening gala. 

With reporting by Jane Matthews in Washington, DC and Andrew Walsh

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