Viral social media video had many speculating that ICE stole a man's groceries during a Christmas Eve arrest at a Washington Walmart

Social media video captured the moment a group of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents (ICE) swarmed a man in a Walmart parking lot after he had finished grocery shopping on Christmas Eve.

The video shows four masked ICE agents surrounding the man who had a cart of groceries next to him, outside a Walmart in Yakima, Washington.

Two agents handcuff the man while others remove items from his grocery cart.

Following the posting of the video, claims were made on social media alleging that the agents stole the man’s groceries.

DHS denied the unverified claims that ICE agents stole the groceries.

ICE agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation on Dec. 24 to arrest Milciades Osorio-Molina. DHS identified him as a Venezuelan national who entered the United States unlawfully in 2023 and said he later violated the terms of his release.

"ICE did NOT steal anyone's groceries," Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, told Newsweek. "These are more smears against our law enforcement. Because of garbage like this, our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1,150 percent increase in assaults against them."

"During the arrest, known agitators filmed the encounter and then surrounded an ICE vehicle while shouting obscenities. ICE officers assisted in loading the groceries into a driver's vehicle."

McLaughlin said agents did not take the groceries for themselves and instead helped load them into a vehicle during the arrest.

Yeimi Jamie Ortiz, who filmed the video, confronted ICE agents and spoke to the detainee, asking the man in Spanish for his telephone number and his name.

She also confronted one of the agents, sharing how her husband had recently been deported to Mexico following an interaction with ICE.

“I just need the wife’s phone number so I can let her know, please,” the woman said to an agent.

“We’ll let him call when he gets there,” the agent said.

“No, you don't, you didn’t let my husband call, and he’s in f-ng Mexico right now,” she said.

“Well, that was a different case,” the officer responded.

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Ortiz later told NBC News that her husband had previously been detained and deported by ICE while their immigration paperwork was pending.

She said the experience was traumatic, and her family lost money spent on legal fees.

Ortiz also added that, despite initial reports suggesting otherwise, the agents did not steal the groceries but placed them in the back of the man's truck.