Footage of 2023 police chase misrepresented as attack on ICE
- Published on February 12, 2026 at 16:30
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
Supporters and opponents of US President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies are both claiming a video shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent sent flying by a driver who hit him on the streets of Chicago. This is false; the clip is more than three years old and shows armed carjackers ramming a stolen vehicle into an Illinois State Police trooper.
"Democrats are Trying to M*rder ICE Agents in Chicago…" says a February 6, 2026 post on X.
The post comes from Brandon Straka, one of more than 1,500 people who was convicted in relation to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack and later pardoned by Trump.
Similar posts spread across platforms.
Others sharing the video cheered the violence depicted as a method of resistance against the federal agents carrying out Trump's mass-deportation policies, with one user on Threads writing: "ICE IS FINALLY GETTING WHAT THEY DESERVE."
The heads of ICE and other US immigration agencies faced heavy criticism in Congress February 10 as they fielded questions about the fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minneapolis, where Trump has surged federal agents to carry out his mass-deportation drive.
Trump has deployed National Guard troops to support agents in Democratic cities -- an unprecedented use of the military on American soil -- but a series of legal setbacks has led him to withdraw the forces from some locations, including Chicago.
In September 2025, after ICE agents in Chicago fatally shot Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop, the Department of Homeland Security said González had dragged an ICE officer "a significant distance with his car" (archived here).
But the video claimed online to show a protester running over an ICE agent in the Illinois city is old and unrelated to the Trump administration's actions.
Reverse image searches traced the clip to January 31, 2023, when a bystander posted it to Facebook (archived here). Local news agencies that broadcast the footage said it showed an Illinois State Police trooper thrown from the hood of a stolen vehicle while attempting to stop the armed thieves (archived here).
The reports placed the incident near the corner of 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue. AFP verified the location using Google Street View (archived here).
Melaney Arnold, public information officer for the Illinois State Police, confirmed to AFP that the footage circulating online "is from an ISP incident that occurred in 2023 and does not involve any immigration enforcement or federal officers."
Arnold said in a February 10, 2026 email that the troopers were patrolling nearby when they spotted the BMW, which was wanted for a carjacking that had just occurred.
They tried to stop the car, but it fled, triggering a pursuit. The moment captured on video occurred as troopers attempted to place the drivers in custody when the vehicle was forced to slow due to traffic. Arnold said Chicago police later found the car abandoned, and that a firearm was recovered.
"A juvenile was initially detained by (the Chicago Police Department), but no charges were filed," Arnold said. "There is no further information."
AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.
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