Fact File: Photo of Portland doughnut ‘ICE fishing’ protest actually taken in Toronto
A photo shared online in October supposedly showed protesters in Portland, Ore. ‘baiting’ United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with doughnuts suspended from fishing lines.
The photo is actually from a protest at Toronto police headquarters and is at least a decade old. While some Portland protesters did taunt ICE agents with a similar stunt, the photo is a misrepresentation.
THE CLAIM
“Portland protesters baiting ICE agents with doughnuts on fishing poles,” reads the caption accompanying a photo that gained attention across Meta platforms in October.
The photo shows several masked people who dangle what appear to be doughnuts from makeshift fishing poles as uniformed police watch on.
“Calling it ICE fishing,” some of the posts read, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The photo earned 141,000 reactions and 31,000 shares on Facebook. It was posted to Threads and Instagram where it received similar engagement.
Protesters in Portland, Ore. are holding nightly demonstrations outside a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday over whether Trump could take control of Oregon National Guard troops he planned to deploy to Portland; earlier this week a judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the move.
THE FACTS
A reverse image search shows the photo is at least a decade old and the interaction took place in Toronto.
The Canadian Press could not identify where the photo first appeared online or the context behind it, but placed the location as Toronto police headquarters at 40 College Street.
Certain details — like the stacked brick sculpture in the background and the black and white sign for Native Child and Family Services of Toronto on the side of a neighbouring building — match the headquarters’ location on Google Maps.
Uploading the photo to reverse image search engine TinEye shows the photo has been around since at least 2013, appearing in a tumblr post that year.
While the online posts misrepresent the Toronto photo as Portland, taunting police officers or federal agents with doughnuts isn’t uncommon at protests and did in fact take place at the ICE facility in Portland.
In a similar vein, some protesters used costumes during the demonstrations. One video of a protester dressed in a frog costume went viral after an ICE agent deployed pepper spray on the area where the air-intake fan connects with the costume.
The Canadian Press fact checked other misleading protest photos in 2023 and 2024.
With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2025.
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