Is a video showing a Portland police officer threaten to arrest an ICE agent if he doesn't stop "driving into people," and the agent replying "won't be messy" authentic? No, that's not true: A longer video giving a wider view reveals the officer is warning a woman in a civilian vehicle, who has no apparent connection to ICE, that she would be arrested if she makes a right turn onto a street where protesters are standing. The purported transcript is fabricated since the video did not record what the driver said.
The claim appeared in social media posts, including a post (archived here) shared on October 4, 2025. The caption introducing the video read:
Finally true law enforcement are standing against the Trump's ICE Gestapo👮🏻♂️:
Portland cop to ICE agent: "You're gonna get arrested if you keep driving into people."
ICE agent : "I don't care. Not many protesters. Won't be messy."
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
Another video (archived here) also shared on X on October 4, 2025, provides much more context about the scene than the 43-second clip in the false post. It shows the officer is warning a woman, who is attempting to make a right turn, that she must make a left turn because there's a crowd of people in the road. Otherwise, she would be arrested, he said.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
A screenshot one second into that two-minute video shows police and protesters in front of the SUV:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
Two seconds later, the video shows it is a Lincoln SUV with a civilian Oregon license plate:
The longer video gives a good view of the female driver after the first minute:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
The woman eventually complied with the police order and backed up.
Neither video recorded what the woman said to the officer. There is no evidence that she was telling him "I don't care. Not many protesters. Won't be messy."
