Trump touts $10,000 checks for Louisiana data center neighbors. Residents say they got none
President Donald Trump claimed that residents near Meta's data center in Richland Parish received $10,000 checks, but residents and state officials say they did not. Louisiana Economic Development said it knew of no such payments and suggested Trump may have been referring to teacher bonuses funded by increased sales tax collections.
President Donald Trump said in an October 20 interview that Louisiana residents living near a data center had each received $10,000 payments after initially opposing the project. WWL-TV found no evidence that such checks were distributed to residents in Richland Parish, where Meta is developing a large data center.
Meta said it has not sent checks to nearby residents, and people interviewed by the station said they received nothing. Louisiana Economic Development said it was unaware of any community-wide payments; a spokesperson suggested Trump may have confused the claim with bonuses of up to $50,000 for Richland Parish teachers, funded by higher sales tax collections. The White House had not responded to requests for clarification.