Amanda Ali is the digital organizer for the Racine Interfaith Coalition (RIC). Last Tuesday, at around 5:30 a.m., her workday got a lot more complicated.
"We received a screenshot message of a Facebook post from someone who wrote in English and Spanish that there was an ICE raid happening at Klement's [sausage company]," Ali says.
The post she’s referring to read: "ICE has just raided Klement’s on Chase Avenue in Milwaukee. Be on alert." The Racine Interfaith Coalition knew the person who shared this message. They were a trusted source. Since RIC does a lot of work with immigrant populations, Ali shared the original post on RIC’s Facebook page.
"As soon as we put it out there, the momentum just sort of started going," Ali says. "Lots of shares [over 250] and lots of comments started happening [over two dozen]. Within the comments, we started discovering pretty early on [within 10 minutes] it was not a raid."
According to Klement's, the plant briefly closed that morning for mechanical issues—nothing more. Meanwhile, comments ranged from asking RIC to take the post down to calling it fake news. And there was a lot of anger.
"Some people were rightfully upset," Ali says. "They said, 'Oh, you should not have posted something without verifying it.' You’re instilling more fear in the community."
Instead of taking down the post, Ali updated it. She didn’t want people to feel even more misled.
"Even I went into the shares and the comments and said, 'Please see our updated post,' because I wanted to show that we were credible. Because even though we were wrong in this situation, we are trying to do our due diligence and be credible around it," Ali says.
But she was far from the only one who was fooled. While that original post was deleted, there were hundreds of shares in just the first few hours. So what effect did that post—and posts like it—have on immigrant populations at this moment?
"It sends shockwaves," says Luis Velasquez, the deputy director of organizing for Voces de la Frontera. "And it is a domino effect. It could result in accidents … because there’s panic."
It’s only been a week since President Trump took office with promises of detention and mass deportation efforts. Velasquez expects that misinformation and disinformation will be a huge problem over the next few years. He’s already hearing about it from the families he works with.
"'Well, I saw it on Facebook,' or 'I saw it here on WhatsApp,' so there’s been a lot of false information circulating on WhatsApp as well," Velasquez says.
Alanna Dvorak, the international training manager at the International Fact-Checking Network located at the Poynter Institute, says that when it comes to social media, you don’t have to be a journalist to fact-check a post.
"I think you always consider the source," Dvorak says. "Look at stuff that they post online regularly. Are they constantly posting things that are designed to inflame or cause crisis? Do they have any expertise?"
Facebook is sunsetting its fact-checking program in the U.S. in the next few months, so the spread of misinformation and disinformation could become a lot more prevalent. But Dvorak points out that this situation—the Klement’s raid—would have been too specific for the social media platform’s fact-checking team to catch.
"In general, I think it’s good practice if something elicits a really emotional reaction right off the bat, you should do a little more digging into it," Dvorak says.
If you see something in a post that feels urgent and you want to share, Luis Velasquez of Voces says to check it out—if you can do so safely—before posting.
"We trust people to do that basic research, and we’re empowering them to do that," Velasquez says. "Then, if the concern is valid, call in the phone number and have as many details as possible, and we’ll activate our teams in the local areas."
Voces has an emergency hotline to call if you see something, which includes a rapid response team that can verify ICE’s presence. They also provide training sessions and "know your rights" printouts. The Racine Interfaith Coalition offers similar resources, including training on how to communicate with immigration officials and how to spot a real warrant.
Other organizations are helping to provide resources, too.
Milwaukee Turners, the area’s oldest civic organization, put together a resource guide based on conversations with immigration lawyers, researchers and activists. The training debunks tropes about immigrant populations and provides resources for individuals and families navigating different paths to citizenship.
The ACLU of Wisconsin also provides an immigrant know your rights training, which includes practical steps for what to do if stopped by ICE. The advice includes: the right to remain silent before speaking with an attorney, avoiding signing anything, and keeping copies of all immigration paperwork.
