MAGA nation freaked out after a video of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement minivan on fire in Philadelphia made the rounds on social media.
Several of the most popular MAGA influencers shared the clip with captions alleging that the van was intentionally set on fire by left-wing protestors to oppose Donald Trump’s effort to deport undocumented immigrants en masse.
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fire Department, however, told the Daily Beast that the fire marshal had determined that the incident was an accidental vehicle fire—not an intentional act of protest.
Rachel Cunningham, the department’s communications director, said that police and the fire department were called to the scene of a burning ICE vehicle around 8:30 Tuesday.
After talking to the driver of the vehicle, the fire marshal determined that the fire was accidental. Cunningham was unable to share specific details about what caused the fire.
A representative for ICE confirmed this account of what happened to the Daily Beast.
“The Philadelphia Fire Department extinguished the flames after arriving on scene,” spokesperson Tanya Roman wrote in a statement. “There were no injuries due to the fast response from the fire department and the vehicle’s occupants.The cause of the fire is unknown, but no foul play is suspected at this time.”
Big names in the MAGA world had spent the afternoon raging over the incident as an act of violent anti-Trump sentiment, though.
The far-right account Libs of TikTok shared the video of the car going up in flames with its audience of more than four million on X. The post’s caption reads, “An ICE minivan was reportedly set on fire in Philadelphia.” It didn’t cite what reports it was referring to.
From there, this account of what happened spread quickly with through the MAGAsphere.
Right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk posted the clip, writing: “A minivan operated by ICE has reportedly been set ablaze during operations in Philadelphia. If found to be intentional, which it appears to be, this is literal leftwing terrorism to make sure our country continues to be invaded.”
Others hedged even less when describing what the video showed.
MAGA internet show host Benny Johnson wrote, “Left-wing extremists have reportedly set fire to an ICE van in Philadelphia in protest to mass deportations.”
The far-right news account, Breaking911, which has more than a million followers declared, “Left-wing extremists have reportedly set fire to an ICE van in Philadelphia in protest to mass deportations. Find them. Arrest them. Charge them with terror.”
MAGA influencer Nick Sortor called the incident “literal terrorism,” adding: “Democrats are inciting this. Lock. Them. Up.”
The video appears to have originated from the site Citizen, which shares information and updates about incidents under investigation by law enforcement.
Homeland Security ICE Minivan on Fire @CitizenApp
506 S Front St 8:38:49 AM EST
The video was posted to the site this morning, tagged from Philadelphia, with the caption “Homeland Security ICE Minivan on Fire.” Nowhere on the original post was there any indication that the fire was intentional, let alone started by left-wing protestors.
