Alien

Is a five-year-old Minnesota boy's father a "criminal illegal alien" who abandoned him in a running car at their home, running away when confronted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers? Here's what we know so far: School officials who were at the scene Jan. 20, 2026 when the boy and his father were taken into custody say that's not true.…

Did the man charged with planting pipe bombs found near the Republican and Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, sue the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security over illegal immigration? No, that's not true: Legal disputes referenced in a Daily Wire article making that claim confused suspect Brian Cole Jr. with his father Brian Cole Sr. It…

Did U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "rebrand" itself to be publicly known as Homeland Security Investigators, not ICE? No, that's not true: ICE still exists under the same old name. "Homeland Security Investigators" discussed in social media posts is not a brand-new entity -- it has operated since 2010 as one of the major divisions within ICE, but the correct…

Do images described as tree stumps provide proof that there were once giant ancient trees which were felled by angels? No, that's not true: The photos show natural geological features around the world which came to be through several geological processes over millions of years. Volcanoes erupting, erosion of different materials at different speeds, and the lifting and folding of…

Is Roland Beainy, the co-owner of Trump Burger restaurants in Texas, being deported? Here is what we know: A spokesperson for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency told Lead Stories that ICE officers arrested Beainy on May 16, 2025, and he was placed into immigration proceedings. He was released from custody on bond by an immigration judge while the…

Does a video show a massive metallic UFO orb over a volcano in Mexico? No, that's not true: The round object in the video is a telescope on the top of the dormant Sierra Negra volcano. The telescope's concave dish-shaped reflector is 50 meters wide, the lighting at the time the video was filmed made an optical illusion of a…

Does the scientific community as a whole share the notion that a newly discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft heading to Earth for a "surprise attack" in November 2025? No, that's not true: The NASA website says that it's a comet and that it doesn't pose any risk to Earth. Three astronomers told Lead Stories that, as of…

Is a viral story about two missing hikers named "Sarah Bennett" and "Andrew Miller" found dead in a cave in 2019 consistent with reality? No, that's not true: Several details in the tale about the missing couple from Colorado don't add up, such as a non-existent newspaper quote of a sister named "Emily Bennett" in the Denver Post and an…

Does a viral TikTok video of disaster scenes document the impacts of an earthquake in Alaska? No, that's not true: The opening shot was taken in Taiwan and the other eight clips that make up the video were either not captured in Alaska, taken before the July 2025 Alaskan quake referred to in the TikTok video, or untraceable to Alaska.…

Did U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren suggest that Mollie Tibbetts' family has "to remember we need to focus on real problems like illegal immigrants not being able to see their kids"? No, that's not true: The viral meme distorted Warren's 2018 comments on the case in which an undocumented worker was charged and later convicted of the 20-year-old woman's murder. During…