How user-generated videos on social media brought Trump’s immigration crackdown to America’s screens

The videos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids emerged just after President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term.

Chaotic and shaky, they spread across social media from all parts of the United States, depicting the new era of immigration enforcement.

The following video collected and verified by NBC News represents a small fraction of the videos that have populated timelines across TikTok, Instagram, X and beyond.

Warning: This report includes explicit and disturbing language.

Many of the videos followed a similar pattern: heavily armed authorities with little visible identification and often wearing masks detaining people, sometimes violently, and putting them into vehicles.

They spread quickly on social media and racked up thousands of views.

What started as a trickle has become a flood. Many — but not all — of the videos originate in Los Angeles.

The video has stoked both outrage against and support for how ICE handles its mandate.

Trump and his administration have defended their enforcement efforts. ICE agents have broad powers, including, in some cases, to make arrests without warrants and limited requirements in terms of identifying themselves as law enforcement.

Immigration has remained among Trump’s strongest issues, with an NBC News Decision Desk Poll conducted from late May to early June finding 51% of Americans approving of his handling of border security and immigration.

Alice Marwick, the director of research at Data & Society, a technology-focused nonprofit, said the situation has reminded her of the videos of police brutality that changed the national conversation around law enforcement and triggered the Black Lives Matter movement.

More recent videos have broken the wall between videographers and their subjects.

In some, bystanders rush to document the situations and even offer advice on how to deal with detainment. Others have demanded that authorities identify themselves.

In at least one instance, a person recording a raid was also detained.