Does ‘Operation Metro Freeze’ video show real footage of deportation flight in Minnesota? No, that’s not true: AI made this clip. Early versions of it showed a watermark indicating a specific AI tool and the military transport plane is unlikely to have a tail number like the one in the video.
The claim appeared in job (Archived here) on X, where it was published on December 16, 2025. The text began via the attached video:
Metro freezing process…
The comment continued:
ICE Metro Freeze is sending a lot of illegal immigrants home to Minnesota for the holidays 🎄
Additionally, the entry on the social media platform stated that “The Department of Homeland Security signed a $140 million contract with Boeing to purchase 6 737 aircraft to create its deportation fleet.
This is what the clip from the post on X looked like at the time of writing:
Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of the post at x.com/1109Patricia
In December 2025, I.C more (Archived here) The number of raids in the state of Minnesota, but this viral video did not document any of them.
In the first second, Sora’s watermark appeared in the clip:
Image source: Screenshots of the publication’s lead stories at x.com/1109Patricia
Sora (Archived here) is an app developed by OpenAI that uses artificial intelligence to create realistic-looking videos from a text prompt, which has raised concerns among disinformation and misinformation experts since the app’s early days on the market. Lead stories, among others, I mentioned That Sora has been repeatedly employed to spread false claims related to immigration, natural disasters, politics, and wars.
The watermark was not the only sign that revealed the fake nature of the clip discussed in this article.
The video showed the tail number of the type removed from most military cargo planes:
Image source: Screenshots of the publication’s lead stories at x.com/1109Patricia
As first reported by The Washington Post, DHS has already signed an agreement $140 million contract with Boeing to purchase six 737 aircraft (Archived here) in late 2025, with the aim of creating its own relay fleet instead of contracting with private companies. But the tail number in the video does not match public records for any Boeing aircraft.
Privately owned aircraft tail numbers, also known as N numbers in the United States, can be looked up in the FAA registry. While an aircraft may change its tail number over time, no two aircraft can have the same number at one time because tail numbers act as unique identifiers. As of this writing, FAA registration “60153” was attached to a single-engine AT-502B fixed-wing turboprop manufactured by “Air Tractor, Inc” for crop dust removal:
Image source: Screenshot of the Lead Stories page on registration.faa.gov
Search for this model on Manufacturer website (Archived here) showed a completely different type of aircraft compared to what the video depicted on social media:
Image source: Screenshot of the Bullet Stories page at airtractor.com/aircraft/at-502b
But the “AMC” at the beginning of the tail number in the video was a reference to an Air Mobility Command military cargo plane in years past, if the video is real.
Defense industry publications reported in 2023 that AMC tail numbers were removed from cargo ships to prevent enemies from tracking the movement of sensitive cargo. Military.com reported the change in This March 1, 2023 report (Archived here). It was a change As reported by Aviation Weekwhich said Air Force markings and other markings seen in the past on cargo ships have been painted over or removed (archived here).
Bulletproof stories I searched the War Department archives for press releases From October 2022 until December 2023, (archived here) No public announcement of change found.