THREAD: Debunking the Lies About ICE
The left has been spreading blatant misinformation about ICE and lawful deportations, stoking unnecessary outrage and confusion. This thread breaks down the facts.
First, here's a helpful video recap to bookmark:
Claim: “ICE is targeting and arresting citizens”
Reality: The notion that ICE routinely arrests U.S. citizens is a gross exaggeration. They currently have a 99.9% accuracy rate — meaning just 170 mistaken identities in over 650,000 apprehensions— errors are exceptionally rare and promptly rectified, as is inevitable in any large-scale human-led operation.
Demanding zero mistakes ignores the inherent complexities of immigration enforcement.
Claim: “ICE isn’t prioritizing criminals”
Reality: Actually, 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with CONVICTIONS or PENDING charges in the US.
Additionally, assuming "non-criminal" for the others means no criminal history at all is inaccurate. The 70% figure does NOT even include those with convictions for violent crimes in their home countries, known or suspected terrorists, foreign gang members, or Interpol notices-which ICE also factors into its enforcement priorities.
Claim: “ICE is conducting racial profiling raids”
Reality: ICE's enforcement actions are highly TARGETED. “ICE does NOT conduct patrols, raids, or sweeps looking for illegal aliens. Individuals and groups making such accusations are doing nothing but fearmongering and in turn, putting the public and our officers at risk. ICE strictly conducts targeted enforcement actions and continues to focus its limited resources first and foremost on those who pose the greatest threat to public safety”
Claim: “ICE targets innocent families and bystanders.”
Reality: ICE does NOT demonize random immigrants and their families. "We do TARGETED operations... going after national security threats to public safety."
Their enforcement strategy is based on identifying SPECIFIC individuals through investigations and intelligence, not sweeping up random people. While family members or others MAY be present during an arrest, ICE maintains that they are not the intended targets of enforcement.
Claim: “ICE is overcrowding facilities and starving detainees without medical care.”
Reality: DHS has debunked this many times — ICE facilities meet high standards, providing proper meals, medical treatment, and communication access for detainees. The quality standard is even HIGHER than detention facilities for actual U.S. citizens
Claim: “Old people are dying in
ICE’s custody”
Reality: This viral story about Luis Leon is entirely fabricated. Chilean government records show that Leon actually died in Santiago, Chile, on December 27, 2019—nearly FIVE years before the claimed events. This was verified through official death certificates.
ICE has NO records of arresting, detaining, or deporting anyone matching Leon's description in 2024. His last U.S. entry was in 2015 under the Visa Waiver Program, with no further interactions documented.
Claim: “The 99.9% accuracy rate is a LIE. They don’t even report those numbers”
Reality: This stat is derived from the available data we have published by ProPublica’s investigation. They only found approx. 170 mistaken detentions. Meanwhile, other reports state that there have been at least 650,000 forced removals. Basic math therefore equates this to a 99.9% accuracy rate: propublica.org/article/immigr…
Claim: “If this administration really wanted to deport illegals, it would focus on cooperative red states like Texas instead of wasting half their resources in blue states just to clash with liberals.”
Reality: They are. The data clearly shows that a significant portion of ICE enforcement has focused on states like Texas and Florida. During the first five months of President Trump’s second term, Texas alone accounted for about 23% of all ICE arrests nationwide, far more than any other state, and Florida accounted for roughly 11%.
Claim: “ICE conducts warrantless kidnappings of brown people”
Reality: This claim is entirely false and mischaracterizes LAWFUL immigration enforcement. ICE arrests are authorized under federal law and are NOT criminal abductions.
Key facts:
Most arrests involve warrants or removal orders. ICE primarily uses administrative warrants (such as Form I-200) based on probable cause for removability. These are civil—not criminal—tools. Forced entry into homes still requires consent or a judicial warrant.
Warrantless arrests are RARE and LEGAL. Federal law (8 U.S.C. § 1357) allows limited warrantless arrests in specific situations, such as imminent flight risk or observed violations—not random sweeps.
These are detentions, NOT kidnappings. Kidnapping implies criminal intent. ICE detentions include legal processes, access to counsel, and immigration hearings.
Bottom line: ICE enforcement is legally grounded. Calling it “kidnapping” is misleading.
Claim: “ICE is human trafficking people”
Reality: This claim is entirely FALSE. Human trafficking is a criminal enterprise involving coercion and exploitation. ICE detentions are lawful government actions.
Temporary detention is LEGAL. If someone refuses to provide ID or immigration documents, ICE may briefly detain them to verify identity or status.
Lawful non-citizens MUST carry documents. Federal law requires non-citizens 18+ to carry proof of status; failure to present it can justify detention.
Silence does NOT prevent detention. Undocumented individuals may refuse to answer questions, but ICE can still detain them to determine status.
Detention ≠ trafficking. ICE actions involve legal authority, records, and due process—none of which exist in human trafficking.
Bottom line: Lawful status checks and temporary detention are NOT “human trafficking.”
Claim: “Masked ICE thugs kidnapped a nurse who’s a U.S. citizen”
Reality: The viral video misrepresents what happened. The woman IS a U.S. citizen but was not stopped at random. She was driving a vehicle registered to her boyfriend, who is in the country ILLEGALLY. She refused or failed to provide identification, which led to her temporary detention until her identity was confirmed.
“During a traffic stop, a U.S. citizen, who was driving her illegal alien boyfriend's car, refused to comply with repeated lawfully given orders by law enforcement to identity herself. She was removed from the vehicle and briefly held while her identity was confirmed. She was promptly released once her identity was confirmed” - CBP
Claim: "Obama deported 3 MILLION. His ICE didn’t kill mothers of children."
Reality: This oversimplifies history and ignores the well-documented fatalities under Obama's ICE, including preventable deaths tied to substandard medical care. During his administration (2009-2017), at least 56 people died in ICE custody. Reports from groups like the ACLU and Human Rights Watch show that in nearly half of the reviewed cases from 2010-2012, violations of ICE's own medical standards contributed to those deaths.
A 2016 Human Rights Watch analysis further highlighted 18 deaths between 2012-2015 where lapses in care were evident, including broader patterns of neglect that devastated families. These weren't isolated incidents—they reflected systemic issues in detention facilities.
Self-defense is NOT the same as intentional killing, and today's ICE faces unprecedented threats, including at least 99 vehicular attacks on DHS officers in 2025 alone (with 66 specifically targeting ICE by early 2026). Obama's ICE didn't encounter this level of hostile resistance, yet attempts to whitewash those years erase the real human cost.
If "kill" refers to direct deadly force—like the tragic shooting of Renee Nicole Good —Obama's era wasn't exempt either. Federal immigration officials were linked to at least 16 shooting incidents resulting in four deaths during his tenure.
The point? No administration is flawless on immigration enforcement. But cherry-picking facts to demonize today's efforts ignores the dangers agents face trying to enforce the law.
Claim: “ICE is not arresting the worst of the worst.”
Reality: Public arrest records show otherwise. The Department of Homeland Security’s “Worst of the Worst” database documents ICE arrests of individuals convicted of serious crimes, including sexual assault, homicide, child sex trafficking, rape, kidnapping etc. You can view it here: dhs.gov/wow
Claim: “People didn’t die during Obama’s ICE.”
Reality: That claim is factually incorrect. Multiple independent reports and data show that people died while in ICE custody during the Obama administration. For example, a joint report by civil-rights organizations documented 56 deaths in ICE custody during the Obama years, including deaths attributed to inadequate medical care and other detention failures.
Claim: “Tom Homan is a nazi”
Reality: Tom Homan hasn’t changed, the Democrat party has. Under the Obama administration, Tom Homan actually received the 2015 Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service, one of the HIGHEST HONORS, as ICE's Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations.
It recognized his leadership in managing border surges, expanding detention capacity from 96 to over 3,000 beds, and achieving record removals (over 920,000, including 534,000 criminals) from 2013-2015.
Claim: "ICE is militarizing our communities."
Reality: Increased ICE presence is driven by sanctuary policies that block cooperation. As ICE's Todd Lyons said, when jurisdictions refuse to turn over criminal illegal aliens, agents must conduct more street-level operations.
"You would not see this many ICE agents and special agents on the street focused on the criminal illegal alien mission if they would just turn people over to us."
Claim: “Trump is using ICE as his personal police force to remove black and brown people”
Reality: Many illegal European & Canadian WHITE criminals have also been deported and can be viewed on the DHS “Worst of the Worst” database
Claim: “Obama only deported criminals and didn’t separate families”
Reality: “2/3rds of those deported under Obama had committed minor infractions such as traffic violations or had no criminal record at all.”
5000+ children ended up in foster care 👇
Politico article from 2016: “Obama administration kicks off FAMILY DEPORTATION RAIDS”
“moving forward with deportations of MOTHERS and CHILDREN” 👇 politico.com/story/2016/01/…
Claim: “ICE tear-gasses a BABY in car while innocent parents are just passing through!”
Reality: The parents, Shawn and Destiny Jackson, were actively participating in the anti-ICE protest in north Minneapolis for at least 45 minutes before the tear gas was deployed, as shown by timestamped video evidence; they left their six children unattended in the vehicle during the clashes, contradicting their viral claim of being innocent bystanders simply driving home from a basketball game.
Claim: “ICE is targeting innocent CHILDREN”
Reality: “ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED…” The father who is here illegally “fled on foot— abandoning his child. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.”
Claim: “Under Obama, people had DUE PROCESS before getting deported”
Reality: Even Snopes admits that most did NOT have a chance to plead their case in court.
“According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed from the country during the Obama administration. Annually, between 58% and 84% of these removals were so-called "summary removals" carried out through legal procedures such as "expedited removal" and "reinstatement of removal," which do not involve a hearing before an immigration judge. On average, about 74% of removals during this period fell into these categories.”
snopes.com/fact-check/oba…
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