The Trump administration on Thursday appeared to admit it digitally altered an image of an activist who was arrested for organizing a recent anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church to make it look like she was crying.
On Thursday, the same day federal officials announced the arrest of protest organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong, the White House X account shared an image of the leader in tears, with a caption that accused her of being a “far-left agitator” who led “church riots in Minnesota.”
Also Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared to share the same image, only with Levy Armstrong straight-faced as she is led by an agent.
When asked about the discrepancy, including whether AI or other image-editing software was used on the White House image, the Trump administration directed The Independent to a tweet from Kaelan Dorr, the White House deputy communications director.
“Enforcement of the law will continue,” the post reads. “The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Federal officials say they will charge Levy Armstrong under a conspiracy statute barring individuals from threatening or intimidating others from accessing their constitutional rights.
On Sunday, Levy Armstrong led a group of protesters into a St. Paul church, where activists chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” a Minneapolis woman who was fatally shot by an ICE agent as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown in Minnesota.
Video of the demonstration shows some worshippers leaving the church while others appear afraid or uncomfortable.
Levy Armstrong, a prominent local activist and lawyer who previously led Minneapolis’s chapter of the NAACP, defended the demonstration prior to her arrest. She said the action was in part meant to criticize Cities Church paster David Easterwood, who appears to be an official with ICE’s local field office.
“You cannot lead a congregation while directing an agency whose actions have cost lives and inflicted fear in our communities,” she told the Associated Press. “When officials protect armed agents, repeatedly refuse meaningful investigation into killings like Renée Good’s, and signal they may pursue peaceful protesters and journalists, that is not justice — it is intimidation.”
The ICE leader is among the Trump administration officials named in a civil rights lawsuit accusing immigration agents of carrying out “police-state tactics” and mass racial profiling as part of the Minnesota campaign.
Trump administration officials and local leaders have condemned the protest.
“The First Amendment does not allow premeditated plots or coordinated actions to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship, and intimidate small children,” True North Legal, which is representing Cities Church, said in a statement. “There is no ‘press pass’ to invade a sanctuary or to conspire to interrupt religious services.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has echoed protesters criticisms of ICE tactics in the state, nonetheless called on activists to remain peaceful and his office told reporters that he “in no way supports interrupting a place of worship.”
As The Independent has reported, the White House has at times leaned into a communications strategy that distorts images — or the truth itself.
On Wednesday, the White House falsely claimed that President Trump didn’t mix up Iceland and Greenland during a recent speech, even though he clearly did so multiple times.
The administration has leaned into an AI-heavy strategy on social media, where accounts tied to the president have posted cartoonish images of the president attacking U.S. Chicago and using a fighter jet to bomb protesters.
Mike Ananny, an associate professor of communications and journalism at the University of Southern California, said such images being shared at the highest level suggest a new political paradigm is underway. Being caught using doctored or fake images used to be considered shameful, though that no longer appears to be the case.
“There’s no sense of, ‘Oh no, we were caught using a synthetically generated image,” he told The Independent. “All gloves are off. People don’t seem to care.”
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