Updated Jan. 23rd, 2026
It’s no secret that President Donald Trump’s plans to secure the border and kick out the foreign criminals the former administration welcomed with open arms were a big factor in his 2024 election victory. Despite the popularity of mass deportation policy ahead of the election, Democrats and corporate media are working overtime to paint legitimate enforcement actions as criminal and smear the people leading that enforcement as “Gestapo.”
These lies are not without consequences. The chronically Antifa-afflicted Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility is once again under siege, and the Los Angeles police department is reportedly experiencing a “surge” in calls about “kidnappings” that are actually federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Even worse, mere months after nearly a dozen suspects were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism for storming an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, while armed in July, a shooter in Dallas carried out what Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem called a “vile attack motivated by hatred for ICE.” The perpetrator shot three detainees after firing “indiscriminately” into an ICE van before killing himself.
The anti-ICE rhetoric touted by the left and their allies in the propaganda press has proved dangerous and deadly. Yet, corporate media and congressmen alike continue to parrot it. Here are all of the hoaxes manufactured in an attempt to hamper Trump’s immigration enforcement by whatever means necessary.
5 Year-Old Boy ‘Bait’
As tensions continued to rise in Minneapolis over federal law enforcement’s immigration operations, allegations that ICE “grabbed” a five year old boy and used him as “bait, forcing him to knock on his own door so they could arrest his father” spread rapidly on social media.
Corporate media headlines also claimed that ICE “detained” the preschooler along with “four children from Minnesota school district.”
DHS clarified that ICE agents intervened after “the father and alleged mother abandoned the child” and “agitators scared the child.”
“The child was ABANDONDED by his father, and the alleged mother REFUSED to take custody of her own child,” the agency said.
Vice President JD Vance also publicly acknowledged that the 5-year-old “was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien, and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran.”
“Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?” Vance asked.
Portland CBP Shooting
It didn’t take long after reports emerged of a Border Patrol-linked shooting in Portland, Oregon, for leftists to gin up their anti-immigration enforcement demagoguery. Within hours of the incident, Democrats such as Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson rushed to attack lawful immigration enforcement operations in the city and lay blame for the shooting at the hands of immigration officials.
Naturally, there was more to the story than what leftists claimed.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the reason the CBP official in question opened fire on the two suspects — both of whom are alleged Tren de Aragua gang affiliates — is because the driver “weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.”
‘Legal Observer’ Shot by ICE Agent
Leftists lost their minds following an incident in which an ICE agent shot and killed a woman who was obstructing immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What Democrats ignored — and what the media were more than willing to obfuscate — however, was the important fact that the agent only shot the woman because she accelerated towards (and hit) him with her vehicle.
Seeking to continue their vilification of immigration officials, Democrats immediately deployed the talking point that the car-ramming anti-ICE “warrior” was nothing more than an innocent “legal observer” — despite footage showing her blocking traffic and hitting the aforementioned agent with her car. Outlets such as The Washington Post also told readers not to believe their lying eyes by calling into question the undeniable fact that the suspect hit the ICE agent with her vehicle.
U.S. Citizen ‘Forcibly Removed’
In a now-viral post, CBS complained that a U.S. citizen was “forcibly removed from her car” and temporarily held in a patrol vehicle after she rebuffed federal agents’ requests to show her driver’s license.
CBS acknowledged that she was detained momentarily after she “refused to present her driver’s license and roll down her window when stopped,” but was released shortly after. DHS also clarified that the woman “was driving her illegal alien boyfriend’s car (who had been arrested prior)” and “refused to comply with law enforcement’s repeated lawful orders to identify herself.”
Details confirming federal agents’ actions were lawful, however, did not deter Democrats such as Sen. Chris Murphy from claiming that ICE’s actions qualified as “totalitarianism.”
Police Chief Urges Calls To 911 Over ICE ‘Kidnappings’
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara used his power and position this week to urge residents to call 911 on “masked” people who “may be kidnapping people.”
“The community should know that if you see something like that that is legitimate, you don’t know if someone is law enforcement, you should call 911, and you should provide as much information as possible,” O’Hara added.
The call to action followed comments from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who accused ICE of “targeting Somali people” based on looks and expressed belief that American citizens would be arrested in the process.
Thanksgiving Travel Trouble
Several outlets, including the Boston Globe, ABC News, and the New York Times ran stories over the holiday weekend amplifying the detainment and deportation of a 19-year-old Honduran native.
Any Lucía López Belloza illegally entered the U.S. more than a decade ago. Yet, corporate media focused on the circumstances of the teen’s detainment, which happened “on her way to surprise her family for Thanksgiving break,” and her dream “of opening a tailor shop with her dad.”
Readers were not informed that Lopez Belloza’s deportation orders dated back to 2015 when she “unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico” until they were several paragraphs deep.
Jamaican Murderer ‘Disappeared’
Corporate media were up in arms over the deportation of a man named Orville Etoria to Eswatini. The New Yorker acknowledged Etoria is a “Jamaican national” but framed its story around the fact that the man “lived in New York for nearly 50 years.”
The headline further complained that Etoria had “Disappeared to a Foreign Prison.”
“The Trump Administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to, where many are being detained indefinitely or forcibly returned to the places they fled,” the subtitle added.
Etoria may have had permanent resident status, but his extensive rap sheet, which included convictions for armed robbery and murder, was more than enough for the Trump administration to revoke his green card and expel him from the country.
‘Preschool Teacher’
Democrat Rep. Mike Quiqley posted a video in early November claiming that immigration officials “took a preschool teacher without a warrant IN FRONT OF CHILDREN in my district.”
“ICE isn’t going after the worst of the worst,” he wrote on X.
“Our taxpayer dollars are being used to violate our rights, terrorize our communities, and traumatize children. It is time to defund ICE,” Rep. Delia Ramirez also wrote.
Even ABC ran with the lie.
The Department of Homeland Security later clarified in a post of its own that the woman seen being handcuffed in the footage was actually an illegal border crosser from Colombia who fled a vehicle law enforcement tried to pull over. The driver and his passenger, the woman, allegedly “ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare—recklessly endangering the children inside.”
After the arrest, DHS claims the woman lied about her identity and claimed she “didn’t know” the driver of her vehicle.
‘ICE Nazi Beating’
A video posted to X and reposted by an anonymous user claimed an “ICE Nazi beating a guy in Evanston, IL.” The footage of the scuffle between a federal agent and the man quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views and prompted the Evanston, Illinois, mayor to announce two investigations into the incident.
“They didn’t like being followed, because they don’t like being watched, because they don’t want the world to know what they’re doing,” he told CNN. “They forced this car accident, and then they started literally beating up innocent bystanders.”
According to DHS, however, the man under arrest allegedly “assaulted and kicked Border Patrol agents.”
“As he was being arrested, here, he aggressively grabbed the agent’s genitals and wouldn’t let go. The agent delivered several defensive strikes to free his genitals from the perp’s grasp,” noted Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.
13-Year-Old
The Boston Globe raised eyebrows in mid-October when it ran a story alleging ICE arrested a local teen and sent him to a holding facility states away.
“Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility,” the headline states.
The Globe claimed, based on the word of an immigration lawyer, that “the teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States.”
MassLive reported in a similar article amplified by Yahoo! News that a “Mass. 13-year-old was picked up by ICE after a police interaction and now he’s hundreds of miles from home.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin corrected the record on X, where she claimed the seventh grader “posed a public safety threat with an extensive rap sheet including violent assault with a dangerous weapon, battery, breaking and entering, destruction of property.”
“He was in possession of a firearm and 5-7 inch knife when arrested,” McLaughlin added.
‘Kids In Zip Ties’
On Oct. 3, CNN anchor Abby Phillip and panelist Van Lathan promoted the lie that ICE agents are zip-tying children. The broadcast also featured a chyron claiming one ICE raid in Chicago included “blackhawks, flash bangs, kids in zip ties.”
As Fox News’ Bill Melugin confirmed, the picture used to further the hoax “is completely fake & isn’t even ICE.”
“It’s a police officer arresting his own son as a joke,” Melugin wrote.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also said “children were never zip tied.”
“This is a shameful and disgusting lie,” she wrote on X. “POTUS Trump and Secretary Noem will not let children be exploited and trafficked by gangs and criminals like the past administration.”
‘Des Moines Superintendent’
Corporate media feigned shock and awe in September 2025 when the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district was arrested “on a deportation order and weapons charges,” as The Federalist’s Joy Pullman reported. Headlines about the high-profile detention focused on Ian Roberts’ role in the Des Moines school district.
According to ICE, however, the Guyana national was not only working illegally, but attempted to evade arrest from ICE in a taxpayer-funded vehicle stocked with a loaded firearm. He was also in possession of a hunting knife and $3,000 in cash, according to the agency.
As Pullmann reported, over the last five years, “Roberts bilked American taxpayers out of more than $1 million in superintendents’ salaries plus $400,000 to settle three lawsuits accusing him of hiring women over men while leading a Pennsylvania school system.”
“That district could not verify his credentials but still paid him $183,000 per year, plus benefits, for three years,” Pullmann added.
5-Year-Old Hostage
Yet another corporate media-led smear campaign against ICE kicked off when headlines accused agents of holding a young child hostage to goad her father into complying with detainment.
NBC News originally peddled the hoax that ICE agents used the 5-year-old daughter of an apparent illegal alien as bait to “pressure” her father into surrendering. The story prompted responses from Democrats such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, who called ICE “vile and beyond cruel.”
A correction notice retroactively applied to the article, however, confirmed that the original story “mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents.” In the updated story, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the father “ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house.” He then “fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house.”
“He abandoned his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.”
‘Utah Violinist’
In August and September 2025, corporate media raised a ruckus about ICE’s detention of a “Utah violinist.”
Donggin Shin, a Korean national, was more than eligible for detention after DHS said he not only illegally overstayed his visa, but also received a DUI conviction in 2019.
Coverage of his arrest, however, highlighted his role as a musician in the “prestigious Utah Symphony and Ballet West” and the protests and fundraising efforts that followed his detainment. NBC News even amplified Shin’s apparent justification for his DUI — his depression over his father’s “Level 4 glioblastoma brain tumor.”
‘Kidnapping’ In California
When Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon’s family held a press conference on June 30, 2025, claiming she was kidnapped at gunpoint by “bounty hunters” and was held in a warehouse until she signed self-deportation paperwork, corporate media went ape about the abduction of a “California community leader.”
Calderon’s story and photos of her “rescue,” which authorities said were “made to look as if she was abused while in ICE custody,” were fishy from the start. Yet, that didn’t stop prominent Democrats such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass from also amplifying the tale.
News eventually broke that Calderon seemingly faked the nabbing — even staging elements of it on a surveillance video — and was later charged with federal conspiracy and making false statements, but Democrats and the propaganda press just moved on to their next information operation.
‘Raid’ at Minneapolis Mexican Restaurant
In June, Democrats helped paint a legitimate criminal investigation into a potential drug and money laundering operation at a Minneapolis Mexican restaurant as an “ICE raid.” The fake news not only led to a protest, but also earned the officials who parroted the falsity a scolding from Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt, who called the lie “highly irresponsible.”
“Putting out the rhetoric that it was an immigration enforcement, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office does not participate in immigration enforcement. Elected officials have a responsibility to the constituents to put out accurate information. They don’t have to agree with it, but do not mislead the public, causing more harm to our communities,” she said.
‘Father Of Marines’
In June 2025, corporate media tried to use a viral video of a heated Border Patrol arrest in California to undermine the credibility of ICE and Trump’s illegal immigration enforcement efforts.
Headlines about the lively detainment repeatedly referred to the man in question as a “father of Marines,” noted his “wife is American,” and claimed he was “violently detained” and even “beaten” by federal agents. The truth is, Narciso Barranco was not only illegally present in the U.S. but also appeared to try and evade arrest by threatening agents with a weedwhacker, prompting them to take “appropriate action.”
‘Maryland Father’
In yet another attempt to criminalize Trump’s immigration enforcement plans, corporate media and Democrats spent the month of April 2025 clamoring over the deportation of a Salvadoran with suspected MS-13 ties by claiming he was merely a “Maryland father.”
Outlets purported Kilmar Abrego Garcia “was in the U.S. legally,” living “under protected legal status,” and “a legal resident.” In reality, Garcia illegally crossed into the U.S. in 2011 and faced potential removal in 2019. Evidence “show[ed] he is a verified member of MS-13,” and he is also suspected of human smuggling and abusing his wife. While Abrego Garcia did have a withholding order that kept him from being sent to El Salvador, he did not have “protected status” that prevented his deportation to another country.
Arrest Quotas
In a Jan. 26th, 2025, article, the Washington Post asserted that the Trump administration assigned “quotas to ICE officers to ramp up arrests.” Not only did WaPo publish the assertion based on nothing more than anonymous sources, but it also reportedly only gave the White House four minutes to comment.
As White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung later noted, the “dishonest” WaPo report was a “fake story.”
Chicago School ‘ICE Raid’
Just four days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025, a reporter for The Chicago Tribune claimed that ICE “showed up” at a Chicago-area school.
“This immigration action appears to be the first at a Chicago school after President Donald Trump took office,” the post claimed.
Illinois’ Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Public Schools officials quickly used the situation to attack the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement plans, even though the so-called “raid” was determined to be a U.S. Secret Service investigation into a “threat against a government official.”
Border Patrol Whipping Lie
In September 2021, as President Joe Biden’s border crisis became the worst in U.S. history, corporate media and Democrat conspiracy theorists flooded front pages, the White House press briefing room, and social media with lies that Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas “whipped” migrants trying to cross into the U.S.
The New York Times specifically asserted that the horse-mounted agents used “the reins of their horses to strike at running migrants,” a claim that the publication scrubbed after the photographer who took the viral photos said he never saw Border Patrol whip anyone.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation confirmed in 2022 that it found no evidence that border security officers “struck any person with horse reins.” In fact, the findings determined “there is no evidence” that the border crossers who were corralled by the agents were “ultimately forced to return to Mexico or denied entry to the United States.”
Mass Sterilizations At Detention Center
During the first Trump administration, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Nicole Wallace, and Chris Hayes appeared to defame a Georgia doctor when they peddled claims he performed mass unnecessary hysterectomies on women held at an ICE detention center. The story about the “uterus collector” was verifiably false from the start and resulted in a $30 million lawsuit against NBC Universal, MSNBC’s parent company.
