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Lefty's Misinformation / Lies (Boise)
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Based on fact-checks, recent viral images purporting to show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents placing handcuffs or zip ties on children are fake. There are several versions of this misinformation, but they are all misleading.
Versions of the fake image
• AI-generated images: One prominent viral image from early 2025 shows an ICE officer grabbing a screaming young girl. Fact-checkers at Reuters and AFP confirmed this image was created using artificial intelligence through the Grok chatbot and then falsely captioned as a real event.
• A staged TikTok video: Another viral image is a still frame from a June 2024 TikTok video, which social media posts have falsely claimed depicts ICE detaining a toddler in a Chicago raid. In the original video, a Texas police officer is playfully pretending to arrest his own young son in a game of "cops and robbers". The officer later posted on TikTok to clarify that his video was being misrepresented for political purposes.
• Doctored news photo: In early 2025, a real 2018 news photo of an ICE arrest was digitally altered to include a "Latinos for Trump" shirt and circulated widely.
Real events that sparked misinformation
While the viral images are fake, they have spread amid real-world events and reports of concerning incidents involving children and immigration enforcement.
• September 2025 Chicago raid: Following a real immigration raid in Chicago, there were eyewitness reports alleging that federal agents used zip ties on children. The viral images, though fake, often circulated in the context of these real reports. As of October 2025, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had denied the allegations of zip-tying toddlers.
• July 2025 Los Angeles incident: Video footage in July 2025 showed a group of children with their hands chained together in a federal building parking garage in Los Angeles, sparking outcry from immigrants-rights groups.
• April 2025 third-grader incident: A third-grade student in New York was detained with his family during an ICE operation in April 2025, though ICE denied claims the child was handcuffed.