In mid-January 2026, images of a man with a bruised and cut face circulated online alongside claims that officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement caused his injuries.
The images spread on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Posts claimed the man's name was Juan Carlos and ICE agents assaulted him in Minneapolis; some posts claimed the man was a U.S. citizen. Some social media users expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of the images.
These images originated from a Facebook post and GoFundMe page by Ismael Cordová-Clough, who appears to be affiliated with several activist groups tracking immigration enforcement activity (screenshot). Cordová-Clough created a GoFundMe (archived) on behalf of a man named Juan Carlos; the GoFundMe's description said he was a U.S. resident "assaulted" while "observing ICE activity" in Minneapolis.
Cordová-Clough's description of what the image showed largely aligned with a report from the Minnesota Reformer, a reputable online news outlet focused on the state's policy and politics. The Reformer obtained a video of a man who said his name was
When asked about Border Patrol's conduct in the video, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said via email that she had a statement regarding "that edited video" but did not immediately provide that statement or any additional comment. Following the publication of this story, DHS claimed, without providing evidence, that the man "refused lawful commands" and reached into his bag, resulting in this alleged sequence of events (emphasis theirs):
The video reported on by the Reformer
The video was not edited. I saw ICE brutalize a completely helpless man with my own eyes. I thought they were going to kill him right in-front of me. I'm an ER nurse, trained to help, but all I could do is scream. I haven't slept through the night since.
Here's what we know as of this writing:
Images originate from ICE activist
On Jan. 10, 2026, Cordová-Clough posted on his verified Facebook account about a "fellow patrolman" named Juan Carlos whom Cordová-Clough said Border Patrol agents assaulted on Jan. 9 near "22nd & Chicago" in Minneapolis. Cordová-Clough shared the post jointly with various people and activist groups largely based in Illinois, such as Immigrant Solidarity DuPage. (Cordová-Clough previously said on his Facebook that patrollers from Chicago have traveled to Minnesota amid the federal crackdown on immigration enforcement there.)
"LOCAL PATROL ATTACKED BY BORDER PATROL," Facebook's English translation of Cordová-Clough's original Spanish post began.
(Ismael Cordová-Clough)
Comments underneath the post contained five photos of a man identified as Juan Carlos and a
(While a World War II-era law known as the Alien Registration Act required foreign nationals to carry proof of registration at all times, it was not regularly enforced until President Donald Trump's second administration created a process requiring them to register with the federal government.)
In a Jan. 14 email, the Central Violations Bureau, which oversees immigration enforcement violations, said it takes six to eight weeks to process violations and that the aforementioned violation "has not been processed."
Cordová-Clough also set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds support to Juan Carlos, which he shared in a comment in the Facebook post. According to both the Facebook post and the GoFundMe page, Juan Carlos is a U.S. resident who "is currently unhoused and living in his car." Neither the Facebook nor the GoFundMe claimed Juan Carlos was a U.S. citizen. Both said Juan Carlos was first taken to the Whipple Federal Building, presumably for law enforcement processing, before being taken to a hospital "because he was having difficulty breathing."
"Juan Carlos has permitted me to share these photos and this update. Once his phone is fully set up, he plans to make his own Facebook post as well," Cordová-Clough wrote on the GoFundMe page, which had paused donations as of this writing.
A later Jan. 10 Facebook post (screenshot) from Cordová-Clough appeared to show him on a video call with Juan Carlos and another person with a blurred face. The update said Cordová-Clough's "contact in Minneapolis" had placed Juan Carlos in a hotel and that Juan Carlos extends his "deepest gratitude" to those who have shown support and shared his story.
A reverse-image search found no evidence of these images being published online prior to Cordová-Clough's posts. The images also showed no signs of editing via artificial intelligence, and the artificial
Video shows Border Patrol agent kneeing man in face
Two days after Cordová-Clough's post, the Minnesota Reformer reported that a "U.S. Border Patrol agent kneed a man at least five times in the face while several other agents held him pinned facedown on the pavement in south Minneapolis," according to Bicking's video. The Reformer also published a separate video reportedly showing the aftermath of the arrest and spoke to multiple witnesses.
The video of the agent kneeing the man in the face was the same one Cordová-Clough posted. Bicking said she was not directly in contact with Cordová-Clough, but that she passed the video along to "somewhat anonymous people working on support for people abducted by ICE" who said they were in contact with him.
"I do believe by the time Ismael had posted the GoFundMe page it was on social media," Bicking said.
Bicking shared a screenshot of the metadata from the video, which indicated that it was taken about noon Jan. 9 on Minneapolis' Chicago Avenue — details that align with what Cordová-Clough wrote in his posts.
In the video, the man can be heard screaming out in pain while Bicking yells, "Stop kneeing him in the face! That's his face! Stop it!" An officer tells Bicking to back up or she'll be arrested. At 0:40, the label "Border Patrol" is visible on the officer's vest.
Bystanders repeatedly ask the man for his name, and he responds with what sounds like, "Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos," which the witness seems to mishear as "Ricardo" (see 0:59).
The Reformer's article said the incident happened "in the middle of Chicago Avenue" and that a witness saw the scene unfold from a window on "Chicago Avenue near 24th Street." In both videos, a building with a "Hope Academy" sign was partially or fully visible. According to Google Maps and Google Street View, Hope Academy is located on Chicago Avenue and 24th Street in Minneapolis. Chicago and 22nd Street, the intersection Cordová-Clough referenced in his posts, is a block away from Chicago Avenue and 24th Street.
The Reformer's report said the news outlet "has not verified the man's identity, but received a copy of the car's purchase contract for a man with the first and middle names Juan Carlos." The journalist behind the Reformer's story, Max Nesterak, said via text that a source on the scene took the contract out of Juan Carlos' car at the scene. (Nesterak declined to name that source.)
Nesterak also shared a copy of the contract with Snopes, which we verified as authentic by using p
While other news outlets have not covered the incident in depth, as of this writing, The Minnesota Star Tribune, the largest paper in the state, published an op-ed from writer and nonprofit worker Jennifer Manthey, who described seeing a man "being beaten on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis by five Border Patrol agents" and "being repeatedly kneed in the face." Manthey said she had a video similar to the one being shared on social media but has not shared it publicly.
In sum …
It was demonstrably true that a Border Patrol agent kneed a man in the face, and in authentic video of that event that man appeared to say his name was Juan Carlos. The evidence available also suggested the images are a legitimate representation of the aftermath of that incident. However, until the man possibly named Juan Carlos comes forward, it was not possible to definitively determine whether the photos did, in fact, show the same man a Border Patrol agent repeatedly kneed.