Claim: Undocumented Africans being hunted down by US immigration officials at an African supermarket in Columbus, Ohio
Source: Social media
Verdict: False
Researched by Alfa Shaban
In the wake of announced deportations by the Donald Trump administration in the United States of America (USA), multiple claims (text, video and image) circulating across social media platforms alleged the hunting down of undocumented immigrants including Africans.
One such viral video (now deleted) was shared on X by ace sports journalist, Ibrahim Sannie Daara claiming immigration officials had undertaken an operation at an African Supermarket called the Saraga Market in Columbus, Ohio.
RelatedNews
“Heartbreaking video of America immigration officials hunting down Africans without papers at the African supermarket – Saraga Market in Columbus, Ohio during a massive raid on Friday.”
The video shared on January 25, 2025, gained massive interactions, including 215,800 views with 732 comments, 1,000 reports, 2,500 likes, and 1,200 bookmarks, at the time GhanaFact archived the post.
Analysis of the viral video
The video by Sannie Daara showed a busy parking lot at a place that appears to be a series of shops with police officers some on foot and others in patrol vehicles busily pursuing a shooter.
We compared screenshots in the video to a 44-second video shared on Facebook on January 15 and found that most of the features in both videos were the same.
The signage and the sequence of shops at the place were also consistent.
Corroborating evidence: Google Map and Earth images
Open Source Intelligence tools, Google Maps and Google Earth, were also used to corroborate the physical location where the incident misreported as a raid took place. In the images below, we capture the main parts of the meat market and a signage that was dominant in the viral video.
Another key feature we found was no signage like Saraga Market as claimed in the viral video.
Further checks showed that the real Saraga Market building was nothing close to the one in the viral video.
GhanaFact also found a news story by The New Americans Mag that spoke to the General Manager of the Saraga International grocery shop.
The management described as false the social media post of the sighting of the officials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the premises of the store.
“There is nothing like that,” said the General Manager of Sarage International Grocery, Medhi El-Khatib.
“I have been here since 7 am and nothing like that happened either outside or inside the store. Our customers are being scared by the social media posts,” the manager stated.
Community Notes flag content
Hours after the post was made, the quasi-fact-checking feature of X, Community Notes, flagged the content as misleading with users providing three news articles referencing the particular video and bringing context to it.
It rated the post as having “Deceptive description,” with an explanation that read: “The video shows the killing of Robert Lee Davis, accused of the murder of Brazoria Deputy Sheriff Jesus Vargas. The incident took place in front of the Stella Link shopping center in Texas on January 15, 2025.”
Of the three supporting links, one was of the 44-second January 15 Facebook video about a shooting incident involving the killing of a Brazoria County deputy. Brazoria is a County in Texas, not Ohio.
The two other links to news stories with the same incident were Fox 26 Houston report (first published January 16) headlined, “Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office shooting: Search for violent killer ends” while the khou.com report (first published January 15) had a headline that read: “HPD: Suspect shot, killed in trash bin after being found by K-9 hours after killing deputy.”
From the above, it is clear that the Facebook post and the news stories were published around the same time.
Verdict
From the above, the claim is False and the video and its caption are misleading.
NOTE: This report has been updated to corroborate images from the viral video using screenshots from Google Earth and Google Maps.
