The Immigration and Customs Enforcement company is being accused of manipulating Google search outcomes to offer the impression that the Trump administration’s immigration raids are more practical than they honestly are.
The Guardian reviews that outdated ICE press releases—some courting way back to 2008—are populating within the high outcomes for immigration-related Google searches. Outdated headlines like “New Orleans focuses targeted operations on 123 criminal noncitizens” and “ICE arrests 83 criminal aliens” give the phantasm that they’re referring to present operations.
However an investigation decided that the outdated pages have just lately been up to date with a timestamp studying, “Updated: 01/24/2025,” to make it seem as if one thing new has occurred, resulting in these pages displaying up first in Google searches.
A current seek for “ice arrests Idaho” surfaced a press launch from 2010, however due to the updates—made after President Donald Trump was sworn in—the Google outcomes make it appear to be it was revealed this 12 months.
“If the objective is to scare people who look up raids in Idaho, that would be a good way to accomplish it,” Idaho immigration lawyer Maria Andrade advised The Guardian.
Cartoon by Clay Jones
This comes because the Trump administration is engaged in a full public relations blitz on immigration. Making an attempt to painting the fulfilment of Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees on mass deportation, the Trump crew is blasting out releases, social media posts, and statements from the White Home and different departments touting excessive numbers of arrests and detainments.
Equally, Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem has been dressing up in full ICE gear whereas she tags alongside and data immigration enforcement operations. Trump ally and faux tv physician, Phil McGraw, was additionally allowed to movie ICE raids.
However what’s actually been occurring on a lot of the ICE raids since Trump took workplace falls far in need of his marketing campaign guarantees. Raids have led to harassment of navy veterans, arrests of immigrants with out legal data, and a concentrate on grabbing as many individuals as attainable—even pregnant girls and kids in faculties, church buildings, and well being care services.
Trump campaigned on the lie that an immigrant crime wave was making life unsafe for U.S. residents, although crime declined below President Joe Biden. Just some weeks into workplace, and Trump is already again to doing what he did earlier than changing into a politician: Placing on a present for the cameras.
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