Two days after At Chandee, known as Ricky, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House posted about him on X, labeling him the ‘worst of the worst’ and a ‘criminal illegal alien.’ The image attached to the post was of a different person, and the post overstated Chandee’s record: he has a single felony conviction from 1993 for a second-degree assault when he was 18. He shot two people in the legs, served three years, then completed his education, worked for 26 years for the City of Minneapolis, became a father and built a life in the United States.
Chandee came to the U.S. as a child refugee and was ordered deported to Laos. Because Laos was not accepting many people the U.S. sought to return, authorities concluded deportation was likely infeasible and allowed him to remain and work while reporting periodically to immigration officials. His lawyer says he has complied with check-ins for more than 30 years and has had no other criminal incidents. He is now petitioning for release from federal detention.
Chandee’s story is not an isolated error. Over the past year, the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal immigration accounts have posted nearly daily about people detained in enforcement actions, typically presenting them as hardened, violent criminals. But outside reviews of ICE data and a case-by-case review by NPR suggest a more complicated picture: many people highlighted by these posts have no criminal records, only old convictions, or only minor offenses.
NPR tracked more than 2,000 individuals spotlighted by federal agencies since last March and examined a subset of 130 people arrested in Minnesota. Using state court and detention records, national criminal history databases, sex offender registries, federal records and news coverage, NPR attempted to verify the government’s social-media claims. The Minnesota findings included:
– In 19 of 130 cases, the most recent convictions were at least 20 years old; 17 of those older-conviction cases involved violent crimes such as homicide and first-degree sexual assault.
– For seven people, the only criminal history found consisted of offenses like DUI or disorderly conduct.
– Six people had no criminal convictions; federal posts relied on arrests or pending charges in those instances.
– For 37 people, NPR could not confirm a matching criminal history in the public records it consulted.
Federal agencies have sometimes relied on arrests or pending charges when posting about individuals, though arrests do not always lead to charges and charges can be dismissed. DHS’s chief spokesperson did not dispute NPR’s analysis but criticized coverage questioning the agency’s posts; in some cases DHS has acknowledged errors on its website while asserting additional offenses justify listings.
Scholars and critics say the social-media campaign appears designed to provoke emotional reactions by coupling images — often of nonwhite men — with blunt statements about criminality. Leo Chavez, an emeritus anthropology professor, argues that images of brown men shown without context are meant to frighten the public and build support for harsher enforcement. Juliet Stumpf, a law professor who studies immigration and criminal law, compares the daily posts to ‘most wanted’ posters or reality TV and says she has not seen government enforcement communicated like this in modern times. Research also indicates immigrants generally commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens, meaning a steady drumbeat that portrays immigrants as uniformly dangerous can skew public perception.
Independent reporting has also documented problems on DHS’s ‘Arrested: Worst of the Worst’ site. CNN reviewed roughly 25,000 names posted there and found hundreds listed for nonviolent or minor offenses such as traffic violations, marijuana possession or illegal reentry. DHS has called some entries glitches and said additional crimes supported certain listings, though the documentation was not always clear.
State and local officials have pushed back when federal posts mischaracterize arrests or who was responsible for them. Cottonwood County, Minnesota, disputed a federal claim that it failed to honor an ICE detainer request, saying the county had complied but ICE could not complete a pickup before the order expired. The Minnesota Department of Corrections has issued statements saying numerous people DHS listed were transferred to ICE from state custody rather than arrested on the street as described, and the state set up a page to correct what it called repeated false claims.
High-profile errors have occurred as well. DHS listed Colombian soccer player Jhon Viáfara Mina as arrested in Wisconsin when he had been extradited, convicted in Texas and later returned to Colombia after early release. In another case, DHS’s social post said Julio C. Sosa-Celis launched a ‘violent attack on law enforcement’ during a Minneapolis incident; assault charges linked to that event later unraveled in court as new evidence emerged and involved officers were placed on leave, yet the federal post remains online.
Advocates and researchers warn that repeating stark images and short, declarative posts helps harden public opinion and normalize extreme policies. Corrections often come too late to erase the emotional impact of the first impression, Chavez says. The aggressive social-media strategy also serves institutional aims: showcasing enforcement successes, defending agents’ actions and criticizing local jurisdictions that resist cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
Data from the Deportation Data Project indicate an increase in arrests of noncitizens without criminal records under the current administration compared with the previous one. Legal scholars caution that public portrayals equating immigration status with criminality can erode community trust, reduce cooperation with local police and have real consequences for the people publicly named.
NPR’s review concludes that while many individuals highlighted by federal enforcement do have significant records, a notable share featured on social media have decades-old convictions, minor offenses, no convictions, or charges that were later dismissed. Those findings raise questions about the accuracy and fairness of a campaign that uses images and short posts to label people as the ‘worst of the worst.’