A rumor that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest 67,000 fans who booed him at a Nov. 9, 2025, football game between the Washington Commanders and Detroit Lions circulated online (archived) in the days after the game.
Variations of the rumor spread on X (archived) and Instagram (archived), and Snopes readers asked about the authenticity of the claim.Â
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence Trump ordered ICE to arrest 67,000 people who booed him. Trump did attend the Nov. 9 game, however, and there is documented proof many people booed him.
Rather, the rumor originated with The Borowitz Report (archived) — a site that describes its output as satirical in nature. Its author, Andy Borowitz, wrote on its About page: “I’ve been writing satirical news since I was eighteen. This represents either commitment to a genre or arrested development.”
The New Yorker featured The Borowitz Report as a column for 25 years. Borowitz announced in 2023 that the magazine dropped his column for financial reasons. He then returned to publishing his satirical stories on his own website and social media pages.
The Borowitz Report story continued, claiming Trump accused those who booed him of being in a Venezuelan drug cartel, saying, “Despite our successful air strikes off the coast of Venezuela, somehow 67,000 of these criminals got through.”
If a U.S. president had actually publicly made this statement, major news media outlets would have reported it. However, a Google search of the quote generated results only related to the satirical story in question.
(Google.com)
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims stemming from The Borowitz Report in the past, including the assertion that the U.S. Navy struck Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ yacht near Venezuela and a rumor that billionaire George Soros filed for bankruptcy after funding “No Kings” protests.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
