- This article looks into the unproven claim that an alleged Reddit post from the r/Advice subreddit tells an authentic story about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining a U.S. citizen’s Indian wife.
- In September 2026, users shared screenshots of the purported Reddit post on Instagram, Reddit and Threads. The text in the story largely lacks key identifying details.
- At the time of publication, the Reddit account for u/Significant-Lake8126, the user who supposedly posted the story, displays the message, “This account has been banned.” It was therefore impossible to confirm the veracity of the alleged post.
- Searches located a Jan. 15, 2026, Facebook post as the oldest known screenshot of the purported Reddit post. Those same searches found numerous stories of immigration agents reportedly detaining or deporting Indian-origin women. None of these appear to match the details in the alleged story.
- Snopes contacted ICE, Reddit and the moderators of the r/Advice subreddit for comment. We will update this article if we receive further information.
In late September 2026, people shared a screenshot purportedly showing a Reddit post, titled, “ICE has detained my Indian wife.” According to the alleged post, a U.S.-born citizen who voted for President Donald Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained their wife several years after the couple’s U.S. marriage.
Social media users shared screengrabs of the post — attributed to an account with the handle u/Significant-Lake8126 — on Instagram (archived), Reddit (archived) and Threads (archived).
(@radical.rachelvr/Threads)
The purported Reddit post reads as follows:
Ice has detained my Indian wife.
I am a US born citizen, my wife is from India. I met her back in 2018 while traveling in Asia. We legally married here in the US in 2022. But yesterday, for some reason, ICE detained my wife. They don’t answer my calls, nor want to give any reason as for why they detained her. We are legally married, so I have no idea why. I’m actually scared for her.
I even voted for Trump, I voted republican for a better economy, for them to take care of the criminals and ILLEGALS in our streets, NOT for them to take my wife away. I am so f*in sorry for voting for him.
What can I do? Why are they doing this??
Snopes received reader mail asking whether the post, if real, featured an authentic story. One reader asked, “Is this true?”
In sum, it was not possible to locate credible information about the supposed post or the alleged detainment story. The purported screenshot does not show any obvious signs of fakery, though it also does not provide any key identifying information beyond the pair’s ethnicity, when they met and the year they got married. As such, it was not possible to rate this unproven claim.
Snopes emailed ICE and Reddit, and also messaged the r/Advice subreddit’s moderators. In our messages to Reddit and the subreddit’s moderators, we requested any details, such as a link, that might help us at least confirm the user truly shared the post. Regarding the authenticity of the story itself, bearing in mind the lack of key identifying details, we asked ICE whether officials recalled seeing the post circulating online in 2025 or 2026 and internally had discussions about which detained person it may have been referencing. We will update this article if we receive further information.
As of this writing, Reddit has removed (archived) a user with the handle u/Significant-Lake8126. The account’s main page reads, “This account has been banned.” The page does not show any past content. It was therefore not possible to confirm the veracity of the alleged post.
Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google, X and Yahoo failed to locate any additional identifiable information about this rumor. The searches uncovered numerous stories about immigration agents reportedly detaining or deporting Indian-origin women, though none appear to match the details of the claim. Extensive searches of website-archiving tools Internet Archive Wayback Machine and archive.today also found no records of the supposed old Reddit post.
A reverse image search revealed that the oldest known iteration of the screenshot of the alleged Reddit post was uploaded to Facebook (archived) on Jan. 15, 2026. That Facebook user told us via Messenger that he found the image elsewhere on Facebook and did not capture the screengrab himself.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on whether a video truly shows Black children protecting their Latino neighbors from an ICE officer.
Sources
Anonymous participant. “Need Help. My Wife Crossed Border from Canada, She Is Indian Citizen…” Facebook, Immigration USA Asylum Seeker, 22 Aug. 2026, https://www.facebook.com/groups/402434537227767/?multi_permalinks=2484595325678334&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen.
ET Online. “Indian-Origin Woman, Living in US since 1994, Detained by ICE from Green Card Interview.” The Economic Times, 16 Dec. 2025, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/latest-updates/indian-origin-woman-living-in-us-since-1994-detained-by-ice-from-green-card-interview/articleshow/125998125.cms.
Mollan, Cherylann. “Woman, 73, Deported by ICE to India after Three Decades in US.” BBC News, 26 Sept. 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jqvz24llyo.
Padhiana, Kultaran Singh. “Punjabi Woman with Son in US Army Held by ICE for Deportation.” Facebook, 16 Apr. 2026, https://www.facebook.com/Kultarn/posts/pfbid02sHyLP3K9yWG7CRNrnMoDzQgZi6M5FsVyFWxJugD6EoMX1NYFFQUxwnwESsUjQs6tl.
