Netizens are accusing Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith of sharing a fake anti-United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) letter that she claimed was written by a local student.
Smith, who has served as Minnesota’s junior senator since January 2018, posted the note on Thursday afternoon, shortly before news broke that President Donald Trump was reassigning Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The federal government began Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota at the start of December 2025 and reported that over 4,000 undocumented aliens had been arrested during that time.
However, Noem and DHS regularly faced backlash because of how the operation itself was handled. Numerous protests turned violent, and two civilians died in DHS-involved shootings in January.
Smith said the letter, written by an unnamed student, was an “absolute gut punch,” though many are doubting its legitimacy. Because the note was allegedly written by a child, we have chosen to keep the typos and present the letter as is:
“I think you should get Ice out of Minnessota. they are taking pepel frome ther homes. one of my friends had to move to texes becaus she was scarde that ice will tacke her and her famaly. I have not seen her in 2 months! So…you should get ride of ICE!”
Hand delivered, written by a Minnesota student. Just an absolute gut punch. Where is our humanity? pic.twitter.com/htbnXv5FTx
— Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) March 5, 2026
Netizens immediately accused Smith of fabricating the letter, pointing out both the typos and the style of the note. Smith said that the letter was “hand-delivered,” yet some internet users believed it looked too clean to have been written by a child before being shared. Multiple X users had fun using artificial intelligence to write responses in an identical visual format, including the typeface, color, and spacing.
“Your staffer is not a ‘Minnesota student,’ Tina,” one X user quipped.
“There is no child on earth who spontaneously breaks into cursive, yet doesn’t know how to spell ‘rid,’” read another response.
Others took issue with the idea that a family would flee Minnesota for Texas to escape ICE, especially considering that Texas sits directly on the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas, like Minnesota, has dealt with several immigration-related controversies in recent months, including reports of abysmal conditions in some detention centers.
My 2 year old was browsing X and came across your post, then he scribbled something down. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, but he got out of his high chair and handed me a note… pic.twitter.com/duvvnw1Qbq
— Fourthbranch 🌴 (@The4ourthBranch) March 5, 2026
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the government plans to close Camp East Montana, an immigration jail that is part of the Fort Bliss Army Base, where three detainees have died, and more than a dozen others have been forced into quarantine because of a measles outbreak.
“It’s obvious by the spelling and grammar that this student attends the Quality Learing Center,” the popular Bad Hombre X account said. That is a reference to the infamous Minneapolis building, which allegedly operated as a daycare center and received federal funding despite being inactive and having a misspelled sign. That building officially closed in early January.
Smith had not addressed the allegations as of Friday evening. The original X post had over 1 million views at publication.
