Photo authentically shows ICE agents detaining US citizen in freezing weather

In January 2026, as immigration enforcement agents descended on Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, a photo circulated online that social media users claimed (archived) showed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escorting a U.S. citizen wearing only underwear, shoes and a blanket in freezing temperatures out of his home in St. Paul, Minnesota.

One X user wrote:

Yesterday, Reuters captured ICE breaking down a door and dragging a man out half-naked into the freezing cold in Saint Paul. According to his sister-in-law, they returned him after realizing he’s a naturalized U.S. citizen with no criminal record.

Claims about what the photo showed also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers wrote in, asking whether claims that the photo showed ICE action in Minnesota were true.

The photo was authentic, meaning not generated by artificial intelligence. The photo was taken by Reuters photographer Leah Millis in St. Paul on Jan. 18, 2026. Millis’ caption read, “A man, whose family requested a Hmong interpreter, is detained after ICE agents and other law enforcement officers conducted an immigration raid at his home, days after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., January 18, 2026.”

Reuters and The Associated Press (archived) identified the man in the photo as 56-year-old ChongLy Thao. According to Thao’s interviews with both outlets, a family statement received by Snopes via email and a Department of Homeland Security statement on X about the Jan. 18 incident, Thao was a naturalized U.S. citizen. According to public Minnesota records, Thao had no criminal record.

Given the above, we rate this claim true.

Two pre-photo accounts of Jan. 18 immigration action

Reuters and The Associated Press both interviewed Thao, though reported accounts of the immigration enforcement action at his home varied slightly. Snopes could not independently verify these reports or the reason for the discrepancy.

For example, the reports differed on the events preceding the arrival of the ICE agents. Reuters reported that Thao was singing karaoke when agents arrived at his home, while the AP reported that he was napping.

Both reports said ICE agents broke down a door to enter Thao’s house while he, his daughter-in-law and his 4-year-old grandson were home. Both reports also said agents removed Thao from the house in the little clothes he was wearing, which was when the Reuters photographer took the photo of Thao and the agents.

According to the AP report, Thao’s daughter-in-law tried to find his ID before agents removed him from the home to prove he was a U.S. citizen. Agents reportedly said they “didn’t want to see it” before leading Thao away but later asked for it after driving him “to the middle of nowhere” and taking additional photographs of Thao. 

Both outlets reported that agents returned Thao when they established he was a U.S. citizen.

According to the National Weather Service, the high in downtown St. Paul on Jan. 18 was 14 degrees. Bystander video (archived) from the scene showed Thao struggling to keep his footing while stepping over mounds of snow at the roadside.

Family ‘disputes’ DHS account

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary, wrote on X that agents targeted Thao’s house in the hunt for two convicted sex offenders who were due to be deported. McLaughlin wrote: 

Yesterday in St. Paul, ICE conducted a targeted operation of 2 convicted sex offenders. One of the criminal targets had convictions for sex with a minor and sexual assault. The other target had convictions for sex assault with penetration in the first degree, domestic violence, and violating a protective order. Both also have convictions for failure to register as sex offenders. They both have final orders of removal from an immigration judge.

The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation. The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement. 

According to a statement sent to Snopes via email, Thao’s family wrote that “key assertions” in the DHS statement “do not reflect their firsthand knowledge of the events or the living situation at the residence.”

The family statement, signed by Louansee Moua, who identified herself as Thao’s sister-in-law on Facebook, continued: 

Mr. Thao is a United States citizen with no criminal record. The only individuals residing at the home are Mr. Thao, his adult son, his daughter-in-law, and his young grandson. The family does not know the individuals referenced in DHS’s statement.

ICE agents did not present a warrant to the family and did not request identification prior to detaining Mr. Thao. Mr. Thao did not resist and went with agents voluntarily, despite the absence of an explanation for his detention at the time.

According to the statement, the family is seeking legal counsel over the events of Jan. 18.

Snopes has previously reported extensively on immigration enforcement action in Minnesota in early 2026.