A video circulating widely across social media platforms claims to show Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New York being pelted with snowballs by residents.
The Claim
Posts on platforms such as TikTok, X and Instagram suggest the footage depicts New Yorkers throwing snowballs at ICE officers in response to the Trump administration's immigration actions.
Musician Bill Madden also shared the video on Monday with the claim, and it quickly went viral, garnering thousands of likes and shares.
"Whoa! Trump's ICE Nazis getting brutally pelted with snowballs by New Yorkers is f*g epic," Madden wrote in a post on X.
The Facts
The footage being shared has been traced back to protests in Russia in January 2021, where participants demonstrating against Vladimir Putin's government were filmed throwing snowballs at riot police during events linked to the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Independent verification conducted by Newsweek indicates the visual elements, such as police uniforms and surroundings, correspond with scenes from Russian protests, not U.S. federal enforcement actions.
Posts alleging it shows New York or ICE have been flagged with community notes on X.
Reporting by The Guardian has documented people throwing snowballs at federal agents during confrontations in cities such as Minneapolis or Chicago where bystanders reacted to aggressive enforcement tactics. These are unrelated to the viral clip circulating on X.
In the first year of his second term, the Trump administration pursued a hardline, aggressive blueprint for mass deportations, increasing immigration arrests and removals as several federal agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, have worked to implement President Donald Trump's pledge to remove millions of migrants without legal status.
Immigration enforcement by ICE has become a highly contentious issue in the United States, with critics and supporters sharply divided. Viral content misrepresenting events, such as fabricated protests or confrontations, can amplify misinformation, shape false perceptions of public sentiment, and inflame political tensions.
Several AI-generated videos showing ICE agents being arrested by NYPD officers have gone viral on social media.
On December 22 ICE posted an AI-generated clip showing Santa Claus working for ICE, while the agency itself has shared warnings about AI-generated videos of arrests.
The Ruling
False. The viral video claiming to show ICE agents being pelted with snowballs in New York is misattributed and does not depict a real incident involving U.S. immigration officers. It originates from footage captured during protests in Russia in early 2021 and has been repurposed with misleading captions.