A teen in New York briefly became a media darling when she made a tearful TikTok video claiming that her sister was arrested by ICE and deported right in front of her eyes. After the media made her a hero, it came out that she was lying about the whole thing.
The teen, Estrella Velez, was seen crying on video saying “no one should be going through this,” the girl claimed that she dropped off her sister, Andrea Velez, at work and then saw her grabbed by immigration officials and deported right in front of them. The girl and her mother keep yelling “she’s a U.S. citizen, someone help her.”
This is why you can’t believe everything you see online
This video went crazy viral with 137k likes in under 24 hours of this girl crying because her sister was taken by ICE
She’s even had mainstream media interviews
She just did a follow up video, she wasn’t taken by ICE. She… pic.twitter.com/fuWIUGISiv
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) June 25, 2025
Naturally, the media loved this story and played up the lie that Velez was “kidnapped off the streets” for deportation despite that she is a U.S. citizen.
Other video shows Velez being taken away. She is seen being loaded into a cruiser.
But it turns out the girl’s sister was not arrested by ICE for any immigration offenses. She was arrested because she was getting violent with an ICE officer.
On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Velez “was arrested for assaulting an ICE enforcement officer.”
“Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Velez was due in court Thursday.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
