The White House responded after incorrectly accusing a man of being charged with child sex crimes in a post on its official X account.
Why It Matters
The White House highlights on social media cases of individuals accused of crimes who are being detained by federal immigration agents. The posts tout those detainments as victories for the administration amid ongoing debate over immigration.
The mix-up comes as the Trump administration has faced growing criticism about immigration operations in Minnesota, which has become the epicenter of its heightened enforcement. Local leaders such as Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have urged ICE to leave the state, arguing it has not improved public safety.
President Donald Trump campaigned on mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, specifically targeting those with violent criminal records. His administration ramped up immigration enforcement since his return to office in January.
What To Know
Victor Manuel Carranza was detained last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota.
ICE posted Carranza’s photo on X on January 28 and wrote: “LARCENY & IDENTITY THEFT ICE St. Paul arrested Victor Manuel Carranza, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minnesota. His criminal history includes convictions for larceny and identity theft, and pending charges for DUI.”
Carranza’s photo was used in a separate White House graphic highlighting the “worst of the worst” in Minnesota, with the caption “child sex crimes,” reported NOTUS. That was not a conviction or charge listed in the earlier post.
The White House explained the mix-up in a statement provided to Newsweek.
“In the process of highlighting the dangerous criminal illegal aliens arrested by law enforcement, two images of criminal illegal aliens were mistakenly swapped. The error has been corrected and the Administration will continue publicizing the dangerous criminal illegal aliens being removed from our streets,” a White House official wrote.
The post has since been removed from social media.
The administration has come under fire for its social media posts in the past. In January, the White House faced criticism for posting an altered photograph of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a woman arrested in Minnesota for her role in a demonstration at the Cities Church in St. Paul.
What People Are Saying
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wrote in a January 27 statement: “Our recent arrests on Friday and over the weekend included sexual predators, domestic abusers, perpetrators of fraud, robbers, and violent assailants. Instead of thanking our law enforcement, sanctuary politicians have repeatedly villainized and dehumanized our law enforcement—even comparing them to the Nazi Gestapo. Despite these smears, our law enforcement continue to risk their lives in the face of unprecedented violence and threats against them to get criminal illegal aliens off the streets.”
Representative Kelly Morrison, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement in January: “Kristi Noem’s reckless and dangerous ICE operations have completely eroded all public trust. Schools have been forced to close. Businesses and restaurants have been forced to close. Families are terrified to go to work, to seek medical care, to get groceries, or to even leave their homes. And I am routinely receiving outreach from constituents who have had family members – US citizens – detained by ICE and they cannot contact them. Secretary Kristi Noem is making Americans less safe. This is indisputably disqualifying.”
What Happens Next
The White House said it would continue to make posts highlighting individuals detained by ICE as immigration remains a central political issue.
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