A Department of Homeland Security official was busted for lying about a teenage girl's violent arrest by federal agents.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed video of the arrest Friday actually showed Chicago police detaining a burglar last year, but a Daily Beast analysis confirmed the teen – a U.S. citizen – was violently thrown to the ground and taken into custody by officers from a department outside the city with help from DHS Enforcement and Removals Operations (ERO).
“Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago," McLaughlin posted. "This isn’t even ICE.”
McLaughlin’s misinformation fell apart quickly, as separate video clips were posted on social media taken in Hoffman Estates, a village outside Chicago. The 18-year-old's parents confirmed to CBS News that their daughter and two friends were held for hours in the parking lot outside the suburban police station without explanation.
Videos also show an officer wearing body armor affixed with “ERO — Enforcement and Removal Operations” branding, and Hoffman Estates confirmed to the Beast that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had been in the area.
“The Hoffman Estates Police Department follows the Trust Act and does not participate in immigration enforcement with ICE," the department said in a statement. "On Friday we had a squad car in the area that was responding to a separate call for service".
“The only interaction we had with ICE was when they came to the police department to file a police report [in] reference [to] an incident that occurred during their enforcement," the department added. "They ultimately decided to complete the report this week with us and have not completed that yet.”
McLaughlin did not respond to requests for comment, and her misleading post remains up on her official government account.
"Tricia McLaughlin claimed the video was of a burglary arrest last year by Chicago police, and ICE wasn’t involved," said lawyer and author Loren Collins, an expert on misinformation. "Literally every claim she made was false. It wasn’t a burglary arrest. It was last Friday, not last year. Zero Chicago police were involved. And it was plainly ICE."