Viral video shows ICE activity in Hoffman Estates, not a 2024 Chicago ‘burglary arrest’

A viral video shows a law enforcement officer dragging a young woman out of a car, pinning her to the ground and arresting her. 

Social media users described it as an Oct. 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

A top Department of Homeland Security official said otherwise. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, an agency spokesperson, said the video doesn’t show ICE and is more than a year old. 

"Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago," McLaughlin wrote Oct. 12 on X. "This isn’t even ICE."

Other X users and Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, echoed McLaughlin’s comment, wrongly connecting  the video footage to a series of 2024 Chicago public transit attacks involving a teenage girl.

Ample evidence from videos shared by people on social media, including the young woman’s aunt, shows this incident happened recently in Hoffman Estates and involved ICE. Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago, about 33 miles from downtown.

The videos show officers wearing immigration enforcement vests. The background shows multiple houses on what appears to be a suburban street; and the visible street names place the footage in Hoffman Estates. 

Although a Hoffman Estates police vehicle was on scene at the time of the incident, the agency said it was not involved in making an arrest. An agency spokesperson said it was stationed there for a non-related call. Chicago Police also said it was not involved in the matter. 

The aunt said on Facebook that the young woman is a U.S. citizen who was protesting against ICE in their neighborhood. As ICE approached her and others, they left in their car, and ICE chased them, the woman said.

That night, the aunt went live on Facebook, speaking in English and Spanish, and said no charges were filed against the teenager or others, and that she was at home.

People have shared numerous videos about law enforcement operations and ICE raids since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. This one stands out for a fact-check because of the law enforcement tactics used on the young woman (CBS News reported she is 18) and the Department of Homeland Security’s false dismissal about what happened.

PolitiFact reached out to DHS but did not receive an immediate response.

What do local police say?

One of the video’s giveaways that this incident didn’t happen in Chicago is the presence of a marked Hoffman Estates police car. Hoffman Estates Police Chief Kasia Cawley told PolitiFact she was aware of an "arrest that ICE made on Friday," which was Oct. 10, but her officers were in the same area for a different reason.

The police department posted a similar statement Oct. 10 on Facebook, after the ICE arrest video went viral on social media.

Another clue that ICE was involved: uniforms. The officer who grabbed the teenager out of the vehicle wore vests that said "Police ERO," which stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations. This ICE division is in charge of detaining and removing people illegally in the U.S., according to ICE’s website. 

The same officers with "ERO" vests appear in another Oct. 10 video taken outside of the Hoffman Estates Police Department. The video, also shared by the aunt, shows the young woman sitting in a parked vehicle, surrounded by officers with "ERO" vests, before she is released and enters an ambulance. 

Social media videos show clues about address, congressman confirms location

Two street signs at the intersection depicted in the video say Morton Street and Glendale Lane. Google Maps shows the same intersection located in Hoffman Estates. 

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., confirmed the ICE incident happened in his district and called for accountability and transparency. 

The young woman’s parents spoke with CBS News, saying their daughter and two friends sat in cars at the police department for hours. Cawley told PolitiFact that DHS has not filed a report about what happened.

Our ruling

McLaughlin said a video shared on X showed a "burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago." 

Numerous videos from the incident and police statements show the video depicts an ICE arrest in Hoffman Estates. 

We rate the DHS spokesperson’s account False.