Coca-Cola is accused of calling ICE on immigrant workers — but there's no evidence of it
In early 2025, a rumor that Coca-Cola called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on its own immigrant employees began spreading on social media.
The claim spread on X, Threads, Reddit, Instagram and Facebook, and it appeared to be especially popular on TikTok, where videos calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola products due to the company's purported actions received millions of views (videos archived here, here, here and here). In one video (archived) with nearly 2 million views, employment lawyer Trang Tran claimed Coca-Cola laid off "thousands of Latin American workers" at the "Cerberus Bottling Plant" in Texas and then called ICE.
Some popular videos claimed Coca-Cola attempted to apologize for calling ICE, including a TikTok video in Spanish that received nearly 3 million views and 200,000 likes as of this writing (videos archived here, here and here).
These claims were not based in credible evidence. We could not find any proof Coca-Cola called ICE on former or current employees, nor could we find evidence of mass layoffs at a Coca-Cola plant in Texas. Coca-Cola also denied the allegations, and there was no proof of an apology by the company, as asserted by some videos.
While people were calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola products over the unsubstantiated rumors, a boycott over separate claims against the company was under way called #LatinoFreezeMovement. Some people appeared to confuse the two calls to action.
There was no proof of the scenario alleged in Tran's video — that the company laid off employees en masse and then called ICE on them — which, if it had happened, would have received news coverage from reputable journalists. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, a federal labor and employment law, requires large companies to notify state government officials of mass layoffs, and news outlets can easily access those publicly available alerts.
A Google search for "Coca-Cola called ICE on employees" found some articles discussing the rumors, including stories by Newsweek, Distractify and Screenshot Media. However, all of those articles said there was no credible evidence to substantiate the claims about ICE and layoffs.
Additionally, if ICE had detained "thousands" of undocumented immigrants with ties to Coca-Cola, as some posts suggested, ICE's total arrest numbers would reflect that alleged sum. During the first two weeks or so of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, ICE reported daily arrest totals, including a day when agents reportedly arrested about 1,200 people — the highest daily total during that timeframe. There was no evidence of those arrests mostly, or exclusively, being former or current Coca-Cola employees. (The agency has not published daily numbers since Feb. 1, 2025.)
Snopes reached out to Coca-Cola Co. by email and shared Tran's video. The company denied the video's allegations. We asked if Coca-Cola has ever called ICE on its own employees, and, if so, if it has apologized for doing so. In an unattributed statement, a spokesperson responded: "The accusation that The Coca-Cola Company called immigration authorities to assist in the separation of undocumented workers is unequivocally false."
A search through Coca-Cola's 2024 and 2025 news releases discovered no announcements about mass layoffs or calls to immigration authorities.
We also reached out to Tran for comment and will update the story if we receive it.
Many popular videos spreading the rumors do not specify where or when Coca-Cola's purported contact with ICE officers occurred. Tran's video, however, claimed Coca-Cola laid off thousands of Latin American workers at the "Cerberus Bottling Plant" in Texas. A Google search for such a plant showed no evidence of it existing.
Posts on Reddit, Instagram and X also referred to this purported incident in Texas.
A Google search for "Texas Coca-Cola facility layoffs" returned no related articles, except for a 2021 article reporting that Coca-Cola laid off 81 people at a manufacturing and distribution plant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area due to a "consolidating effort." The article did not mention anything about the employees' immigration status or immigration authorities being involved. A Google search for "Texas Coca-Cola ICE calls" also located no results from reputable news sites confirming the rumors.
The WARN Act requires large companies to provide "at least 60 calendar days advance written notice of a plant closing and mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment" to state government officials. A search through Texas' 2025 and 2024 WARN notices found no mention of layoffs at any Coca-Cola facility.
Many social media posts combined calls for a Coca-Cola boycott with the ICE rumors. To be clear, there is a grassroots movement to boycott Coca-Cola that began in early 2025, spearheaded by the Latino community, that is unrelated to the claims about ICE.
The boycott, known as the #LatinoFreezeMovement, calls on Latino consumers to avoid shopping at American companies that have scaled back efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. The initiative includes Coca-Cola on a list of companies to avoid. As of this writing, Coca-Cola had a diversity, equity and inclusion page on its corporate website, but the company may be considering changes to such policies, per a December 2024 proposal submitted to its shareholders.
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The brazen act of vandalism happened just hours after protesters held a 'Speak Out' at the 83rd Precinct stationhouse on Knickerbocker Ave. and Bleecker St. in Bushwick, decrying the cops for their treatment of Puerto Rican Day Parade celebrants at after-parties in the neighborhood on Sunday night and Monday morning. The NYPD was aware of the Wednesday night demonstration, but it wasn't immediately clear if the two incidents were linked. The marked and unmarked NYPD vehicles were set ablaze inside the lot around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, cops said. The FDNY managed to put out the blaze within a few minutes. No injuries were reported, but the vehicles suffered extensive damage, officials said. Two men dressed in black were seen fleeing the scene. Investigators believe someone poured gasoline on the marked police cars before setting them on fire. A torch lighter was found on the scene. Vandals busted the windshields of some of the vehicles they didn't torch, a police source said. Palm-sized wads of kindling were found in the wheel wells of at least one car. Cops were scouring the area for surveillance video that captures the vandals walking to the lot, which is just down the block from the stationhouse. Community leaders called for calm as the vandalism stokes growing tensions between the NYPD and Brooklyn residents. City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, D-Bushwick, called the torching 'completely unacceptable.' 'Actions like this have no place in our neighborhood,' Nurse wrote on X Thursday. 'Our community is already under stress with ICE present. Now is the time to de-escalate, stand together and work through our challenges peacefully.' City Councilwoman Jen Gutiérrez, who also represents Bushwick, agreed with Nurse and called for cooler heads to prevail. 'We cannot stand up to this and any other threat with more violence,' Gutiérrez posted. 'We must de-escalate and keep our families safe.' Precinct officers are being accused on social media of having been heavy-handed as they broke up Puerto Rican Parade after-parties in Bushwick on Sunday. 'On Sunday evening, NYPD pigs from the 83rd Precinct launched a fascist offensive against the community of Bushwick, NYC, attacking Puerto Ricans and non-Puerto Ricans during peaceful celebrations during the Manhattan and Brooklyn Puerto Rican Day Parades,' one post noted. 'The first attack happened around the Bush Dyke Bar around 8 p.m. Victims of this unnecessary raid reported being slammed to the ground resulting in hospitalizations.' In a second incident, cops shut down an after-party at Mood Ring on Myrtle Ave. The incident resulted in at least one hospitalization, BKMag reported. An NYPD spokesman said cops were called to the venue around 12:20 a.m. Monday after getting a 311 call about a disorderly group outside. Officers tried to disperse the crowd, but several people refused to leave, the spokesman said, adding that at least one partier assaulted a cop trying to move the crowd along. Police took five people into custody. Three were hit with criminal charges, and two were given summonses for disorderly conduct, officials said. The criminal charges ranged from assault and resisting arrest to obstructing government administration and criminal mischief, cops said. 'The NYPD did not shut down the premises and no enforcement action was taken inside the establishment,' the NYPD spokesman added. 'The NYPD entered the establishment only to speak with management.' _____
