A viral video purportedly showing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting a six-year-old immigrant child has been debunked as misinformation, with critics accusing Democratic activists and social media influencers of deliberately sharing the clip to inflame anti-ICE sentiment. The footage, which exploded across platforms over the weekend, actually depicts a 27-year-old woman being briefly detained by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Washington state for wandering into oncoming traffic, according to fact-checks and official clarifications.
The controversy erupted on Sunday, October 12, when the video—complete with Spanish subtitles labeling it as the “detention of a dangerous six-year-old immigrant”—was widely shared on X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Threads. Right-leaning commentators quickly called it out as a hoax, pointing to visible markings on the patrol vehicle identifying it as belonging to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, not ICE. The incident, captured on body camera footage earlier this year, shows deputies restraining the woman on a highway shoulder after she repeatedly stepped into lanes of moving traffic, posing a safety risk to herself and drivers.
“This is classic leftist propaganda—fabricate outrage to demonize law enforcement,” said conservative commentator Carmine Sabia in a post that garnered thousands of views. “Democrats never get tired of creating new hoaxes,” echoed podcaster Paul Szypula, highlighting the clip’s rapid spread among progressive accounts.
Democratic leaders have not issued a unified response, but some progressive voices distanced themselves after the fact-check.
On the right, the episode has been weaponized to portray Democrats as desperate and dishonest. “When the story doesn’t fit the agenda, just change the age, the agency, and the entire situation!!” one X user quipped, reflecting a sentiment echoed across conservative circles.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office reiterated in their fact-check post that the video has been “misappropriated online” and urged the public to verify sources before sharing. No formal complaints have been filed against sharers, but the incident has renewed calls for platform accountability in combating deepfakes and edited media.
