Old clip of bikers does not show group supporting LA immigration raids
"On the way to California to back Ice Agents... and deport the criminals illegals. Lets go MAGA," text over footage of a large crowd of motorcycle riders reads in a TikTok video published June 10, 2025.
The same video received hundreds more interactions on X.
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A screenshot of a TikTok post taken June 16, 2025
Protests opposing ICE raids and deportation efforts have been ongoing since June 6 in Los Angeles. Trump has pounced on sporadic violent incidents at the rallies to deploy 4,000 National Guards and 700 Marines to the city,
o directed federal to ramp up deportation efforts in Democratic-led cities on June 15, doubling down on the politicized anti-immigration drive.
FP debunked several out-of-context images falsely linked to the situation as the protests have attracted foreign adversaries of the United States to amplify disinformation.
Similarly, the video shared does not show bikers heading to California. Instead, it depicts a charity event in Pennsylvania in November 2022, which the non-profit group that organized the ride confirmed in an email.
A keyword search for the handle visible in the bottom right corner of the video found the corresponding TikTok account (archived here), where AFP retrieved the exact clip posted multiple times over the course of several years with different text overlays.
The first misrepresented iteration of the clip appeared on the account on November 6, 2022 with the text, "Republicans waiting for the polls to open Nov 8th" in reference to the 2022 US midterm elections. The same clip was also misleadingly framed in other claims AFP debunked in 2024.
Several visual elements in the video appeared to point to a gathering happening in the state of Pennsylvania, including blue and yellow license plates on the bikes, the logo of a Harley-Davidson store in Harrisburg embroidered on one of the bikers' jacket and a merchandise tent for a "biker dog" under the name of "Sidecar dog Riley."
A keyword search on Google yielded results for a merchandise website (archived here), as well as social media accounts, under the same name in Northampton, Pennsylvania.
A search on the dog's Facebook page found that the team behind "Sidecar dog Riley" (archived here) sold merchandise at Tucker's toy charity run and raffle on November 5, 2022 in Northampton organized by the non-profit Lehigh Valley Community Benefit (LVCB) a day before the clip first appeared on TikTok.
LVCB's founder and president confirmed to AFP on June 17, 2025 in an email that the footage depicted "Tucker's Toy Run charity ride" in 2022.
As highlighted below, identical tent displays as the one seen in the TikTok
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A screenshot of a TikTok post taken June 16, 2025 with elements highlighted by AFP
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A screenshot of a Facebook post taken June 17, 2025 with elements highlighted by AFP
Motorcycle gang from 2022
A clip of another motorcade widely circulated on X on June 13, 2025, claiming to show "bikers on their way to California."
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A screenshot of an X post taken June 17, 2025
A Google reverse image search, again, revealed that the clip was taken out of its original context.
AFP retrieved the clip, first posted on TikTok on July 28, 2022 (archived here).
In the comments, several users mentioned Montebello in Los Angeles County as the location for the video.
"Shout out to Arry's Burgers!!" a commenter wrote at the time. A Google Maps search for the restaurant confirmed that the footage showed the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Taylor Avenue in Montebello (archived here).
AFP also identified the logo on the back of the bikers' vests as "Mongols California," in reference to a bikers club native to Montebello.
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