Video of Florida police detaining minor misrepresented as ICE raid
- Published on January 21, 2026 at 23:24
- 2 min read
- By AFP Mexico
- Translation and adaptation Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
A growing number of Americans are expressing dismay at the aggressive tactics used by US immigration agents to detain suspected migrants, and outraged posts across social media are claiming a video shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer ramming his car into a teenager riding a bicycle. But the clip is misrepresented; in reality, it captured the actions of a local police officer in the state of Florida arresting the cyclist for obstructing traffic.
"Donald Trump and ICE, detaining innocent children, in their raids in the neighborhoods of the US," says a January 13, 2026 post sharing the video on X. "Trump's fascism is imposed against families and their children."
Another January 20 post adds: "An American teenager was taken by ICE agents outside his home after they struck him with their vehicle and tackled him."
Similar posts spread across platforms, including in Spanish.
Thousands of people braved frigid weather to demonstrate in Minneapolis and other US cities against the fatal January 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, and again after another immigration agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man a week later. A US district judge has since ordered the immigration agents to dial back their aggressive tactics against peaceful protesters and drivers.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has ordered 1,500 US soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, days after Trump on January 15 threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act.
But while the video circulating online is real, it dates to March 2025 and is unrelated to the unrest in Minneapolis -- or Trump's sweeping immigration operations throughout the United States.
Florida incident
A reverse image search surfaced the footage published to Instagram as early as March 31, 2025, including by "@bikelife.issy," a self-described content creator posting about biking in Florida (archived here and here).
"Undercover cop tackles kid on bike," the user wrote in the video's caption.
In the post's comments section, the user indicated that he recorded the video and that he had remained on the scene until another police officer told him to leave.
The footage shows the words "Broward County Sheriff" and "Deerfield Beach" across several patrol vehicles, placing the incident in the South Florida city.
Further keyword searches revealed that several local media stations had also broadcast the video.
According to the broadcasts and various online reports, the video showed a Broward County police officer detaining a teenager in Deerfield Beach after pursuing a group of cyclists who had been pulling reckless stunts along a main road, obstructing traffic and causing safety issues for drivers. The deputy was one of several responding to reports and struck the cyclist while attempting to maneuver around the group, the sheriff's office said, per the reports.
The reports said the minor was taken to the hospital and later released to his family with a juvenile civil citation.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.
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