Video from Mexico misrepresented as attack on US immigration agents
- Published on March 27, 2026 at 21:58
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
Protesters have frequently confronted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carrying out US President Donald Trump's aggressive deportation policies, but online claims that a video shows fed-up Los Angeles residents violently chasing away an officer are false. The clip actually shows a February 2026 brawl involving workers and police at a wholesale market in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.
"Los Angeles citizens chase an ICE," says a March 26, 2026 post on Threads. "More of this is going to happen because people are sick and tired of ICE."
Similar posts spread in several languages across Threads and other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X.
The video shows a shirtless, masked man approaching three members of law enforcement and punching one in the face, before a crowd chases them down the street. Some people are seen throwing objects or filming, while onlookers shout and whistle.
The posts spread as a partial government shutdown centered on disagreements in the US Congress over funding for ICE forced thousands of airport security staff to work without pay, leading to major travel disruptions throughout the country.
They also come as Trump started placing the embattled agency's personnel -- already facing intense scrutiny over their aggressive tactics and the fatal shootings of two US citizens -- in airports to ease the delays.
Protesters, including in Los Angeles, have clashed with ICE agents throughout Trump's term.
But the clip purporting to show Los Angeles residents chasing immigration agents is misrepresented.
Reverse image searches surfaced the same footage shared February 11 by Mexican news outlets and journalists (archived here, here and here).
The reports said that workers dedicated to carrying fruits and vegetables at the Central de Abastos wholesale market in Mexico's San Luis Potosi confronted members of the Guardia Civil Estatal San Luis Potosi when the state-level police force responded to reports of a fight between workers.
The newspaper La Jornada reported that three people were detained, though the police force wrote February 11 on Facebook and its website that five people were arrested as a result of an incident in the commercial zone (archived here and here).
AFP verified the location by matching the slogan on the red wall in the background of the footage -- "calidad que guía, frescura que ilumina" -- and the logo to Don Chenchi, a food wholesaler specializing in seeds, chiles, grains and spices.
A video on Don Chenchi's Instagram account shows the same red wall (archived here).
AFP reached out to the Guardia Civil Estatal San Luis Potosi and Don Chenchi for comment, but no responses were immediately forthcoming.
Beyond the Spanish-language storefront for Don Chenchi in the background, other clues that the video was not filmed in Los Angeles include the words "Guardia Civil" on the officer's vest, and a woman's voice shouting "a huevo," an informal Mexican slang expression used to signify enthusiasm.
AFP previously debunked similar posts falsely claiming to show protesters in New York pelting ICE agents with snowballs.
Read more fact-checks about US politics here.
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