On Jan. 28, 2025, Telemundo Puerto Rico reported that a Puerto Rican woman, her child and the woman's mother-in-law were detained by U.S. officials after the family was heard speaking Spanish in a store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The report centered around a journalist's alleged phone interview with an anonymous source claiming to be the brother of the detained woman. According to the brother, the trio was detained then released by federal agents when the woman produced proof of their U.S. citizenship.
Following the report, highly viewed claims featuring the key elements of the story circulated online. The story was shared by (archived) journalists (archived), politicians (archived) and various (archived) news (archived) sources.
One popular version was posted (archived) to X by Occupy Democrats, a left-leaning media outlet. The same text also spread on Facebook (archived).
BREAKING: Horror story hits the news as a toddler, mother, and grandmother are hauled off to an immigration detention center by Trump's goons because they were speaking Spanish — even though they're American citizens.
This is the worst case scenario ... According to a report from Telemundo Puerto Rico, the three innocent Americans were detained in Milwaukee and dragged off by U.S. officials. A member of their family stated that they were minding their own business, shopping at a department store when they were detained. Their request to speak to officers was denied until they arrived at the detention center.
"My sister, speaking in English, explained that, not only are they American citizens, but that they are from Puerto Rico, they were born in Puerto Rico," said the family member. The individual spoke anonymously to Telemundo out of fear for their family.
The detained mother eventually produced documents including birth certificates, at which point the officials became apologetic — presumably because they're afraid of a lawsuit. "I'm so sorry," said one official. The family was then forced to call and pay for a ride from the facility, putting even more unfair strain on them.
The claims spread at a time of fear in immigrant communities over the Trump administration's promised deportation raids. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 made the island a U.S. territory. At roughly the same time as the Milwaukee story, reports circulated from Newark, New Jersey, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had carried out raids in neighborhoods and businesses in the city.
We reached out to ICE, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and local immigrant rights groups for confirmation of the story. Milwaukee Police Department said it was not aware of ICE activity in the city from Jan. 20 to Jan. 28 when Telemundo posted the story. Similarly, Mayor Cavalier Johnson's office said it had heard the story but had no specific information about it. We reached out to Milly Méndez, who reported the story for Telemundo, for further details about how the news outlet confirmed the reported events. We could not locate Telemundo's anonymous source to independently confirm the story.
Telemundo's anonymous source did not confirm the date or exact location of the alleged event, only saying that the family was stopped in a chain of stores that existed in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The report also did not specify which agency detained the family. An English-language report in the Latin Times named ICE as the agency that detained the family but provided no comment from the agency. We have reached out to ICE about whether it had arrested then released a family matching the description given by Telemundo's source.
Several Spanish-language outlets also picked up the story. However, none appeared to have spoken to Telemundo's source or anyone else who had witnessed the event, all instead referring back to Telemundo's reporting.