Rumors circulated online in late January 2026 that U.S. President Donald Trump sent out a fundraising email that asked its recipients to fill out a survey and asked, "Are you a proud American Citizen or does ICE need to come and track you down?"
Users on social media platforms such as Threads (archived), Facebook (archived), X (archived) and TikTok (archived) shared the purported email amid ongoing tensions regarding the president's immigration crackdown that resulted in the deaths of citizens at the hands of federal agents.
One user sharing the email, journalist and author Brian J. Karem, posted a screenshot to X (archived).
The email shown in the screenshot read in full:
I reached out last week about my Citizens Only Survey.
Your file says you're a top MAGA patriot...
But my records to my survey STILL say: RESPONSE PENDING.
Don't tell me, you're an illegal alien?!?
That cannot be true!
This is your FINAL MOMENT to Prove me wrong, Brian — please.
Are you a proud American Citizen or does ICE need to come and track you down?>
TAKE CITIZENS ONLY SURVEY
The email was authentic.
The website PoliticalEmails.org — an online archive of political emails — hosted an archive of the message in duplicate, both versions timestamped on Jan. 28, 2026, with one sent at 11:52 a.m. and the other at 11:58 a.m.
Both archived versions matched those of the screenshot shared in the claim. The only difference shown between the three occurred toward the end of the message.
Where Karem's screenshot depicted an email with the line (emphasis ours) "This is your FINAL MOMENT to Prove me wrong, Brian — please," the archived versions sent at 11:52 a.m and 11:58 a.m. replaced "Brian" with "Chris" and "PLEASE!" respectively.
The discrepancy appeared to be the result of a merge field, a tool in email programs that allows for the personalization of copy in mass emails using subscriber data. In this case, it appeared the archived version sent at 11:58 a.m. did not have sufficient data to name a specific recipient, so it used a generic word instead.
The email displayed a "from" address of contact@win.donaldjtrump.com, an official Trump-owned web domain.
The message declared it was "Paid for by Never Surrender, Inc." Federal Election Commission records show Never Surrender Inc. is Trump's primary leadership PAC and was formerly his principal campaign committee, Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc.
Both entities had the same P.O. Box mailing address in Arlington, Virginia, shown in the email and had matching FEC Committee ID numbers.
The email came from the same address as a different fundraising email Snopes investigated in September 2025, in which Trump asked for donations so he could "get into heaven."
Snopes reached out to the White House press office for comment on Trump's fundraising email and will update this article if we hear back.