The White House falsely labeled a man as having committed child sex crimes in one of several erroneous graphics posted Jan. 26 on its X account about immigrants detained in Minnesota.
The thread of images posted to the White House’s X account was deleted after NOTUS asked about the apparent errors. The White House’s X account has 3.6 million followers — prior to deletion, the post had been viewed at least 257,000 times. The graphics were shared by other X users and at least two news organizations. And although a White House official acknowledged the error, they said they will continue to post about individual arrests.
“In the process of highlighting the dangerous criminal illegal aliens arrested by law enforcement, two images of criminal illegal aliens were mistakenly swapped,” a White House official said. “The error has been corrected, and the Administration will continue publicizing the dangerous criminal illegal aliens being removed from our streets.”
The mistake comes as the Trump administration continues to face scrutiny for posting false and at times intentionally misleading information on its social media accounts. The White House, Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement frequently post photos of individuals and the crimes they have purportedly committed in attempts to underscore the success of the Trump administration’s deportation operation.
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In a January press conference, President Donald Trump displayed multiple photos of deportees. In a press briefing last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held up a packet titled “The Worst of the Worst” to underscore the importance of the continued operation in Minnesota.
“In just the last few days — I’m happy to provide this packet to anyone in the room — ICE has arrested many, multiple violent criminals illegal aliens within Minnesota,” Leavitt said. “These are extremely dangerous people who Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey have allowed to roam on their streets.”
NOTUS received the packet. Seven of the eight graphics posted on X appeared to link the images of individuals mentioned in the packet to crimes they did not commit, based on the packet and a corresponding press release from DHS.
According to the White House document, Victor Manuel Carranza has convictions for larceny and identity theft. His photo was used in a White House graphic on X that said he had committed child sex crimes — the offense of a different individual.
Local officials have repeatedly accused the Trump administration of spreading inaccurate information on the Minnesota raids. The Minnesota Department of Corrections said the Trump administration is misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding the apprehension of immigrants “at scale” by referring to custody transfers as arrests.
DHS and White House officials made claims about federal officers’ fatal shooting of Alex Pretti that were contradicted by bystander footage.
Last week, the White House posted a doctored image of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota activist, that makes it appear that she was crying during her arrest by federal agents.
“Reducing my image to some scared crying woman was just so degrading, and it just shows how far the office of the president has fallen,” Levy Armstrong told The New York Times. “The presidency, the White House is supposed to symbolize the world’s greatest superpower, but instead they acted like a $2 tabloid.”
According to lawyers who spoke with the Times, the post could be used in Armstrong’s case against the Trump administration for making “improper extrajudicial statements,” or statements like character attacks which have the potential to disrupt an ongoing judicial proceeding.
Prior to the Minnesota raids, FBI Director Kash Patel has come under fire multiple times for hastily posting inaccurate information about ongoing investigations to his social media account.
In the immediate aftermath of the Brown University shooting in 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that the shooter was in custody. At the time, the shooter was still at large.
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