That area is a parking lot by the ICE facility. So it doesn’t appear to just be any old photo of a man crying in a parking lot. Both the color and density of the bricks, distance of the grass, color of the parking lines, and placement of the door, which I initially was led to believe was a pole based on the angle, are all a match, though whatever’s partially obscuring the second photo in the original post is something that was likely added later on, as the most recent street view photos are from about 3-4 months ago, give or take.
Both reverse image searches on the attached photos, and facial recognition scans via PimEyes of his face turn up no results.
I was able to find two additional photos of him from this post on Bluesky, one from behind talking to officers, and another of him sitting on the ground but with a different angle of his face visible.
I found an additional photo from what appears to be the same poster on Facebook this time, showing more of his face. Still no facial rec match, though. (PimEyes doesn’t search social media for privacy reasons though, so there’s a chance it’s just missing him on there)
The org that seems to have the largest swath of the photos, and initially did the reporting, is Humanizing Through Story, who’s mission is to capture documentary-style photos of immigrants and refugees in an attempt to humanize them.
Their site links to an Instagram post by their account. That post claims that “This is what was reported to me by a community member who offered aid and resources to him on site.”
So to wrap that all up:
He is a real person (i.e. not AI generated)
He was actually near to the ICE facility in a parking lot
The photos taken of him were from an organization known to take such photos, not just a random bystander
The claimed path of the narrative was: The guy himself > Community member > Organization, and the screenshotted post is just a copy of their original post but without the context of where the information came from or any link back to the organization that actually took the photos or gathered the information.
Thank you. Not sure if comments can be pinned to the top of a thread, but knowing this is real and not just an out of context photo used for propo is important. The fact that it wasn’t immediately dismissable is already sad, though.
I’ve got context.
That area is a parking lot by the ICE facility. So it doesn’t appear to just be any old photo of a man crying in a parking lot. Both the color and density of the bricks, distance of the grass, color of the parking lines, and placement of the door, which I initially was led to believe was a pole based on the angle, are all a match, though whatever’s partially obscuring the second photo in the original post is something that was likely added later on, as the most recent street view photos are from about 3-4 months ago, give or take.
Both reverse image searches on the attached photos, and facial recognition scans via PimEyes of his face turn up no results.
I was able to find two additional photos of him from this post on Bluesky, one from behind talking to officers, and another of him sitting on the ground but with a different angle of his face visible.
I found an additional photo from what appears to be the same poster on Facebook this time, showing more of his face. Still no facial rec match, though. (PimEyes doesn’t search social media for privacy reasons though, so there’s a chance it’s just missing him on there)
The org that seems to have the largest swath of the photos, and initially did the reporting, is Humanizing Through Story, who’s mission is to capture documentary-style photos of immigrants and refugees in an attempt to humanize them.
Their site links to an Instagram post by their account. That post claims that “This is what was reported to me by a community member who offered aid and resources to him on site.”
So to wrap that all up:
Wow actually a useful post
excellent job with this
Wow, thank you for finding this.
So basically this hasn’t been proven false, hasn’t been proven true, but has supporting evidence for at least major parts of the narrative.
In essence, its not a smoking gun but could be a compelling story if packaged correctly and the relevant information was gotten more concretely.
More than that, it seems usual sources aren’t debunking nor covering it.
Thank you. Not sure if comments can be pinned to the top of a thread, but knowing this is real and not just an out of context photo used for propo is important. The fact that it wasn’t immediately dismissable is already sad, though.