Local
Fabricated ICE arrest images unsettle Bay Area workers as enforcement operation unfolds
A realistic-looking image of arrests near San Francisco’s Metreon prompted an undocumented restaurant manager to warn coworkers and plan for a possible workplace raid. San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network later identified the image as AI-generated; another fabricated image appeared to show agents outside Berkeley’s Alta Bates hospital.
A photograph that appeared to show Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting two people near San Francisco’s Metreon sent a wave of alarm through a restaurant manager’s workplace before local immigration monitors identified it as AI-generated.
Juan, an undocumented immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, said he received the image on a Saturday from his girlfriend, who had gotten it on WhatsApp from a friend working nearby. Juan was driving from San Francisco to his job in Oakland when he saw it.
“I thought, ‘Wow, it looks real,’” he said. “I believed it.”
Juan, whose last name was withheld for safety, warned his colleagues. They passed the image along and began discussing what they would do if immigration agents came to the workplace.
Hours later, Juan saw a notice from the San Francisco Rapid Response Network identifying the image as AI-generated. The network operates a hotline and verifies reports of ICE sightings. Juan contacted his girlfriend so she could alert the person who had first shared the image.
The false image was among realistic-looking depictions of purported raids circulating through private messaging platforms during “Operation Safe California.” Another fabricated image appeared to show dozens of ICE officers outside Berkeley’s Alta Bates hospital.
Juan’s experience shows how quickly an unverified image can prompt fear and practical preparations among people who may be vulnerable to immigration enforcement. In this case, workers began planning around a supposed raid before the image was checked by a local verification network.