Does authentic video show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining cats and dogs, as of October 9, 2025? No, that's not true: Viral clips showing cats and dogs being seized were products of generative AI. Their early versions displayed a removable watermark pointing to a specific app. They originated as online satire.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Instagram on October 5, 2025. It opened:
ICE agents are arresting Chihuahuas now #Ice #chihuahua #sora #lapd
In the video attached to the post, a male voice was heard saying the following to people who appeared to protest the action:
...he's in violation of import restrictions. We have paperwork... step back, ma'am, federal action!
This is what the clip looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at instagram.com/p/DPZZiSxjc8G/)
The post, however, mentioned Sora (archived here) -- an OpenAI app that generates realistic-looking videos based on written instructions. The Sora watermark, automatically added by the generative AI video-making app, appeared in the video as well:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at instagram.com/p/DPZZiSxjc8G/)
A closer look revealed that, despite advanced realism, the clip still contained visual inconsistencies pointing to its artificial origin. One example was the disfigured faces of the people in the background:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of posts at instagram.com/p/DPZZiSxjc8G/)
The account that posted the clip additionally emphasized in the bio that its contents were AI generated:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of page at instagram.com/tryansuniverse)
Previously, that account published other, more obviously AI-generated videos of the same dog. One portrayed an imaginary scene of that Chihuahua arresting an ICE agent; another showed it "dancing in Antarctica":
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of posts at instagram.com/tryansuniverse)
Besides the dog video, a similar clip purporting to show ICE agents "arresting" a cat (archived here) started to circulate on social media in early October 2025, as ICE raids continued across the country:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at instagram.com/p/DPWHQNcCuZO/)
Just like the dog variation of the claim, that video showed the Sora watermark and disfigured or absent faces in the crowd surrounding the "agents":
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at instagram.com/p/DPWHQNcCuZO/)
Claims about ICE taking away pets have been circulating online at least since mid-June 2025. One of those videos apparently mocked news shows (archived here). It originated (archived here) from an account on TikTok named "Artificial Humor" and labeled as "AI-generated" creator. Furthermore, that post's caption explicitly mentioned AI, Google's generative AI tool (archived here) and the satirical nature of the clip in a series of hashtags placed below the video:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at tiktok.com/@artificial_humor)
