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Social Media
Social Media
stated on February 18, 2025 in social media posts:

“An ICE minivan was reportedly set on fire in Philadelphia.”

False
By Sofia Ahmed
February 19, 2025

An ICE van in Philadelphia wasn’t intentionally set on fire

If your time is short

  • The fire marshal determined the fire was an accident and there was no indication of foul play.

  • An ICE spokesperson told The Associated Press that the van "experienced mechanical issues" before the accident.

See the sources for this fact-check

After President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the U.S., a video of an ICE van engulfed in flames went viral. Some social media users claimed the van was torched to protest Trump’s immigration policies, citing no evidence to back their claims.

“An ICE minivan was reportedly set on fire in Philadelphia,” a Feb. 18 Threads post said.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Popular right-wing social media influencers including Charlie Kirk and Libs of TikTok shared a video of the burning minivan on X. “This is literal leftwing terrorism to make sure our country continues to be invaded,” Kirk wrote on X.

Authorities investigating the Feb. 18 fire said there is no proof it was intentional.

“Upon speaking with the driver of the vehicle, the Fire Marshal determined that this fire was accidental,” Rachel Cunningham, a Philadelphia Fire Department spokesperson, told PolitiFact in an email. “Our Fire Marshal found no indication of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

Tanya Roman, an ICE spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the van “experienced mechanical issues” before the accident.

We rate the claim that an ICE minivan in Philadelphia was intentionally set on fire False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Our Sources

Threads post (archived), Feb. 18, 2025

X post (archived), Feb. 18, 2025

X post (archived), Feb. 18, 2025

Email correspondence, Rachel Cunningham, spokesperson, Philadelphia Fire Department, Feb. 19, 2025

The Associated Press, Fact focus: No foul play suspected in ICE van fire in Philadelphia, Feb. 18, 2025

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