US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations

Thousands of press releases about decade-old enforcement actions topped search results, all updated with a timestamp from after Trump's inauguration

News of mass immigration arrests has swept across the US over the past couple of weeks. Reports from Massachusetts to Idaho have described agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) spreading through communities and rounding people up. Quick Google searches for Ice operations, raids and arrests return a deluge of government press releases. Headlines include ICE arrests 85 during 4-day Colorado operation", New Orleans focuses targeted operations on 123 criminal noncitizens" and, in Wisconsin, ICE arrests 83 criminal aliens".

But a closer look at these Ice reports tells a different story.