In March 2026, online users alleged an image authentically showed two young U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walking around in uniforms at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The image began circulating just after President Donald Trump's administration ordered federal immigration agents to help with security at airports, amid long security lines and a congressional budget impasse leaving some federal workers without pay since February.
Users sharing the purported photo made light of the pair's youthful appearance. For example, on March 24, a Reddit user posted (archived) the supposed picture on the r/pics subreddit with the caption, "Teenage-looking ICE agents walking around LaGuardia Airport today."
(Ryanyu10/Reddit)
Other users shared the image on Bluesky (archived), Facebook and X (archived). Numerous users alleged in replies the image was fake, claiming someone created the image with artificial intelligence.
In short, the image was real. The photo showed no signs of being created or altered with AI or other digital editing tools.
A Bluesky user named Megan Greenwell confirmed to Snopes she personally took and then posted (archived) the picture on March 24.
(Megan Greenwell/Bluesky)
In Greenwell's post (archived), which featured three additional pictures, she said she counted 25 ICE officers — most of them with Enforcement and Removal Operations vests — while waiting in LaGuardia Airport's Terminal C. She wrote, "Every one of them was either standing doing nothing or slowly walking the length of the line doing nothing. At least four were in masks."
(Megan Greenwell/Bluesky)
One or both of the two ICE agents appeared in photos available from The Associated Press and Getty Images, further confirming the agents — as well as many others — were present at LaGuardia Airport that day. The Getty Images captions referenced March 24 and LaGuardia Airport's Terminal C, matching Greenwell's information.
(Michael M. Santiago, accessed via Getty Images)
Snopes emailed the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees ICE — to ask if the department could confirm ICE applicants must be at least 21 (the ICE website says, "Applicants must be at least 21 years of age") and whether the department wanted to share a statement addressing the users reposting the photo.
A DHS spokesperson who did not provide a name sent a general statement that did not directly address our questions. The email mentioned doxing, which Merriam-Webster defines as the act of publicly identifying or publishing private information about someone, especially as a form of punishment or revenge. That statement read, in part: "DHS will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers. Doxxing our officers puts their lives and their families in serious danger."
Snopes replied to ask if DHS could provide evidence of users attempting to dox the two agents in the photo. We will update this article if DHS provides further information.
For further reading, we previously investigated whether a video authentically showed ICE agents detaining a woman and child at San Francisco International Airport in California on March 22.