Under immigration crackdown, social media rumors in WA spread ‘like wildfire'

Facebook posts reported potential immigration enforcement all over Central Washington, including an Ellensburg hay supplier, a Yakima middle school and an Othello ice cream shop. Some were vague, with one line about a suspicious-looking truck with tinted windows, and others were detailed: eyewitness accounts of someone being taken away in handcuffs by people in masks.

In a 28,000-member Facebook group focused on immigration enforcement sightings in the Yakima Valley, posts like these start off unverified, and most stay that way; only the Ellensburg post was later confirmed as an immigration arrest. About 90% of the sightings are false alarms, volunteers say, a result of rumors heard second hand or mistaken identity.

But the fear is real. Under the Trump administration's unprecedented immigration crackdown, social media rumors of unconfirmed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent sightings or arrests have proliferated. Experts say this spread is fueled in part by heightened political tension and, in some cases, life-or-death consequences of immigration enforcement. ICE arrests increased at the start of President Donald Trump's second term, though those numbers have dipped in Washington in recent months.

Community organizers and advocates, meanwhile, are overwhelmed by the deluge of reports as they try to balance good intentions with combating misinformation that can spread panic.

"They see one post about something and then it spreads like wildfire, because the stakes are so high" said Vanessa Gutierrez, deputy director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

In Yakima County, a group of about 30 volunteers monitors the Yakima Valley ICE sightings Facebook page and looks for posts with verifiable data, prioritizing videos or photos that came directly from the person who posted it. A volunteer will then drive to the location and verify if enforcement is being carried out. The volunteers don yellow vests that say "legal observer" and record the activity. The group's goal, similar to other small-scale networks and statewide organizations, is to document, not interfere.

The volunteers, part of the nonprofit Yakima Immigrant Response Network, worked with moderators of the Facebook page so they too could be trained in report verification. Still, with about a dozen posts each day, the group sometimes doesn't have enough volunteers to check on each post.

Similar social media groups with centralized potential immigration enforcement reporting exist for other cities, including Seattle. In October, Meta removed a group focused on Chicago reports, following "outreach" from the Justice Department, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.

"The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs," Bondi wrote on X. "The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement."

Immigration enforcement agents may not be wearing identifiable uniforms nor say who they are and wear face coverings. That, coupled with the general fear, contributes to confusion and potential overreporting, Gutierrez said.

Misinformation spreading

Yakima volunteer captain David Morales said the amount of misinformation they've seen is similar to the first Trump administration, but, he added, the fear is more widespread.

"It was an experience that was only among the Latino population, and now we get that from people who aren't Latino or immigrants and who also see ICE, and that makes them anxious" said Morales, who is also an attorney. "They're anxious for their neighbors."

Without capacity to verify everything, however, what's meant as a helpful report may have the opposite result, Gutierrez said. A post shared on Instagram about a possible ICE raid may turn out to be an arrest of one targeted person, or not immigration enforcement at all. A report of an ambiguous vehicle with no other information creates unnecessary fear, said Nedra Rivera, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network's director of hotline and rapid response.

"If the community jumps to ‘there's a raid happening, they're picking up people,' then that has that chilling effect where people aren't shopping, they're not going out into their community, they're not at school or work or church, because all those fears of what they're hearing, and the rumors that get spread," Gutierrez said.

The Pasco Flea Market, the state's largest open-air flea market, saw a substantial drop in vendors and customers in 2025 after ICE raid rumors spread on social media, the Tri-City Herald reported. In January, four South Seattle public schools sheltered-in-place for a day because of "unconfirmed community reports" of ICE activity. ICE has said officers will be present at the summer FIFA 2026 Men's World Cup games, leading to rumors about the agency's presence and what that means for the fans, including those wanting to see games in Seattle.

As an alternative to posting or inadvertently spreading rumors, activists pointed to the Washington State Immigrant Solidarity Network's hotline, which receives 200 to 300 calls a week, with occasional spikes up to 600, according to Rivera.

In 2025, the hotline received nearly 12,000 calls, more than double the amount in 2024, and Rivera expects the number to surpass that in 2026. She attributes the rise in part to more people knowing about the service, and sometimes spikes can be sparked by events like the surge of ICE activity in Minnesota and shooting deaths of two people by federal agents.

'Spread power, not panic'

The organization created a "spread power, not panic" poster which includes the phone number and what to ask before reporting or posting, like what agency it appears the enforcement agents are from or what they are wearing.

Topics that people feel strongly about, such as immigration, can break down someone's rational thinking and get them in a reactive mode, said Christina Veiga, spokesperson for the News Literacy Project. Someone may be less likely to take an extra beat and look into where a post or video came from, then contributing to the problem.

It's important for users to keep in mind they have credibility within their own network, Veiga said, and use that credibility wisely: Someone is more likely to believe something if they know the person who shared it.

"The real key is to just slow down, especially on social media," Veiga said. "These platforms are built for engagement, and they're built to be fast and frictionless. You scroll, reshare and move on. Just taking a second to think about ‘how do I know this is true? Was it posted by a credible source? Can I confirm it?' will go a long way to reduce the spread of rumors and things that aren't true."

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