Two days after At Chandee, who goes by Ricky, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House’s X account posted about him, calling the 52-year-old the “WORST OF WORST” and a “CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN.” The photo the White House used was of a different person, and the post incorrectly said Chandee had multiple felony convictions; he has one, for second-degree assault in 1993, when he was 18. He served three years in prison.
Chandee came to the U.S. as a child refugee and was ordered deported to Laos, which has not consistently accepted people the U.S. sought to remove. Federal authorities later concluded deportation was likely infeasible, and Chandee was granted permission to remain and work, so long as he checked in periodically with immigration authorities. He has not missed a check-in in more than 30 years and has no subsequent criminal incidents. He worked for the City of Minneapolis for 26 years, became a father, and is now petitioning for release in federal court after his detention. Colleagues and family say he is not the “worst of the worst.”
Chandee’s case is one of many highlighted repeatedly on social media by the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Over the past year those accounts have posted about people detained in immigration enforcement operations, often portraying them as hardened, violent criminals — even as ICE data indicate more than 70% of people detained lack criminal records. NPR reviewed government social media posts and examined 130 cases of people arrested in Minnesota who were highlighted by the agencies.
Findings from the Minnesota review:
– DHS and ICE social accounts have posted on X about more than 2,000 people targeted in mass deportation efforts since last March, often multiple times a day.
– Of the 130 Minnesota individuals NPR attempted to match to court and detention records, 19 (roughly 1 in 7) had their most recent convictions at least 20 years old. Seventeen of those 19 involved violent crimes such as homicide or first-degree sexual assault.
– For seven people, the only criminal history was minor — DUI or disorderly conduct.
– Six of the 130 had no criminal convictions; the government posts relied on arrests or pending charges to imply criminality.
– For 37 people NPR could not confirm any matching criminal history in available databases or news coverage; some names produced no criminal records at all.
DHS did not dispute the specific findings NPR could not confirm, and its chief spokesperson Lauren Bis responded angrily to NPR’s reporting, accusing the outlet of “defending murderers and pedophiles” and listing several names with old violent convictions while noting dates of deportation orders.
Scholars and experts say the posts — photos of mostly nonwhite people paired with statements about criminal history — are crafted to provoke fear and justify hardline policies. Leo Chavez, an emeritus anthropology professor at UC Irvine, said the images are intended to trigger an emotional response and prime the public to accept “drastic and draconian actions and policies.” Juliet Stumpf, a law professor who studies immigration and criminal law, compared the sustained, individualized campaign to “FBI most wanted posters” or reality TV-style portrayals, and warned it distorts reality: research shows immigrants generally commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens.
Investigations by other outlets found similar problems. CNN analyzed DHS’s “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” website and reported that hundreds of the approximately 25,000 people listed did not have violent felony records; DHS called some entries a “glitch” and said affected individuals “have [committed] additional crimes.” The Deportation Data Project documented a large increase in arrests of noncitizens without criminal records during the current administration compared with the previous one.
State and local authorities have pushed back against federal posts that misrepresent facts. DHS accused Cottonwood County, Minnesota, of not honoring ICE detainers in a post naming a person charged with child sexual abuse; the county said DHS misrepresented events and that the county had honored the detainer but ICE could not pick up the person before the hold expired. The Minnesota Department of Corrections published a blog noting dozens of people DHS listed were transferred to ICE because they were already in state custody, and it created a page to correct what it called repeated DHS misinformation.
Other specific errors include a national listing that misidentified where Colombian soccer player Jhon Viáfara Mina was arrested, and a high-profile shooting in Minneapolis where DHS described Julio C. Sosa-Celis as mounting a “violent attack on law enforcement” during an ICE arrest; assault charges later faltered in court as new evidence emerged and the officers involved were put on leave, yet the DHS profile remained online.
NPR’s review underscores how government social media can amplify selected cases, sometimes with inaccuracies, and can present decades-old or unproven allegations as recent or definitive evidence of violent criminality. Experts warn that the combination of images and assertions of dangerousness — even when later corrected — can shape public perception and policy in ways that outlast any official clarification.