FACT CHECK: Post Misidentifies Employee Who Blocked Democrats From Entering Department Of Education

A post shared on Facebook identifies Tobie Jansen van Rensburg as the employee who purportedly blocked Democratic lawmakers from entering the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 7.

Verdict: False

van Rensburg stated he was misidentified as the employee who blocked Democratic lawmakers from entering the U.S. Department of Education headquarters via a recent LinkedIn post. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education denied the claim’s validity to Check Your Fact via email.

Fact Check:

Schools have two weeks to eliminate race-based admissions practices or risk losing federal funding, according to The New York Times, which cited a recent letter from the U.S. Department of Education. Following the letter, the department has canceled $600 million in grants focused on topics such as critical race theory, the outlet indicated.

The Facebook post identifies van Rensburg as the employee who purportedly blocked Democratic lawmakers from entering the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 7.

“I regret to inform the public the individual blocking @RepMaxineWaters @MaxwellFrostFL et. al [from] lawful entrance to the Dept. of Education today appears to be Tobie Jansen van Rensburg, an offensive cybersecurity expert from South Africa who runs ‘Grey Owl Cyber Defense,’” the post reads in part.

The post includes a screenshot of van Rensburg’s LinkedIn profile, which shows he has a background in cybersecurity. The post also includes photos of the employee who purportedly blocked Democratic lawmakers from entering the U.S. Department of Education headquarters and implies it is van Rensburg.

Besides Facebook, the claim circulated on X, formerly Twitter, where it amassed over one million views.

The claim is false. van Rensburg stated he was misidentified as the employee who blocked Democratic lawmakers from entering the U.S. Department of Education headquarters via a recent LinkedIn post.

“On the left, Jim Hairfield (currently in the USA) and on the right, me Tobie Jansen van Rensburg (Never been to the USA and still in South Africa). Talk of a case of being misidentified this X post [clearly] got it wrong but thanks for the free publicity,” he wrote.

The post features side-by-side photos of Hairfield and van Rensburg, and the two men bear no resemblance to each other.

Likewise, Shayan Sardarizadeh, a senior journalist at BBC Verify, reiterated via a Feb. 8 X post that van Rensburg was not the employee seen in the photos. In addition, Sardarizadeh indicated Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters had identified the employee as Harfield, a deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Education.

The baseless claim that the man blocking Democratic lawmakers from entering the Education Department is a South African named Tobie Jansen van Ransburg has gone viral.

The man, per Rep Maxine Waters, is Jim Hairfield, a deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Education. pic.twitter.com/5rQ6cKJF4R

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) February 8, 2025

Check Your Fact also found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true. On Feb. 15, Reuters debunked the claim, citing van Rensburg’s LinkedIn post. (RELATED: Did White House State That Anyone Who Said Felon Would Be Fired?)

Furthermore, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education denied the claim’s validity to Check Your Fact via email.

“We can confirm it was a Department of Education employee. We do not comment on an individual’s name for security and privacy reasons,” the spokesperson said.