In late June 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that bodies with their hands and feet tied together that washed up on the coasts of Spain’s Balearic Islands were people whom the Trump administration deported from the U.S.
One TikTok user said:
You don’t find that oddly suspicious? That not one American news company or outlet is reporting that bodies are washing up on shores where their hands are shackled and their feet are shackled? Whose hands and feet are being shackled as they’re boarding things in the U.S. right now?
The claim was especially (archived) popular (archived) on TikTok. There, users presented news articles side-by-side about deportation flights of shackled migrants in January 2025 and bound bodies (archived) washing up in Mallorca in June that year, hinting at connections between the two. The claim also appeared on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), X (archived) and Reddit (archived).
However, we found no evidence that the bodies found in the Balearic Islands were people deported from the U.S. We also found no evidence that U.S. authorities had placed deported people in the Balearics. Spanish authorities had not yet identified the deceased at the time of this writing. But we did not find evidence of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights to Spain, though the Trump administration did carry out flights to several African nations. People migrating from Africa often attempt to cross into Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, ending up on islands like the Balearics.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson dismissed the claim in its entirety, writing via email, “This claim is so stupid and obviously false it hardly dignifies a response.”
We reached out to ICE to ask for its comments on the claim and whether it had carried out any deportation flights to Europe since January 2025. We also reached out to the Spanish Civil Guard and the Balearic Government Delegation, which governs the Balearic Islands including Mallorca, to ask if they had identified any of the deceased from the Spanish reports as people deported from the U.S. or found evidence to support this claim. We await replies to our queries.
Claim built on elements months apart
The claim appeared to be based on an alleged connection between images (archived) posted by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt of a deportation flight in January 2025 and news articles about bodies with bound hands and feet washing up on beaches in the Balearic Islands in June.
Leavitt’s images showed people with shackled hands and feet being led onto a C-17 Globemaster cargo plane. Leavitt wrote, “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.” Reuters reported at the time that the flight was bound for Guatemala, citing an unnamed administration official. According to reports, shackling people on deportation flights is common ICE practice. We asked ICE to confirm this and await a reply.
Then, in June 2025, reports circulated about several bodies that washed up on the shores of the Balearic holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera with their hands and feet tied together.
The Spanish Civil Guard opened an investigation into the deaths, suspected to be murders, at the time of this writing. According to local reports, officials recovered the first bound body on May 18, 2025. According to Diario de Mallorca, a local newspaper, at least five bound bodies washed up on Balearic Island beaches by the end of June. Other reports did not provide a total.
Police suspected the deaths were connected to people smuggling and migrants attempting to cross into Europe from northern Africa. On June 30, authorities in Ibiza said police believed the deceased were “on a boat that arrived in Alicante,” according to local reports.
Reports did not indicate that officials suspected the deceased were migrants deported from the U.S. Identification work was ongoing.
Migrant boat crossings from northern Africa to the Balearic Islands are a common occurrence, as are deaths on this route. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 2,700 migrants arrived by sea to the Balearic Islands between January 2025 and June 22. Spanish authorities often step in to rescue migrants in distress at sea.
Plotting US deportation flights
ICE does not publicly publish full lists of deportation flights and destinations. Therefore, it was not possible to confirm from its own data whether it carried out deportation flights to Spain or the Balearic Islands that could have resulted in deported people washing up there.
According to Tom Cartwright, a human rights advocate who tracks ICE deportation flights, ICE carried out 3,889 deportation flights between January and the end of May 2025. Though none of these flights appeared to be to Spain, Cartwright’s list did include African countries like Mauritania, Senegal, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya and Angola. It was possible that people deported to these destinations might attempt to migrate to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. However, without identification of the bodies washed up in the Balearic Islands it was impossible to say whether that was the case.
Snopes did not independently confirm Cartwright’s data, though news organizations and advocacy groups have acknowledged his database as the most complete that is publicly available.
In sum, at the time of this writing, it was not possible to confirm whether the bodies that washed ashore in the Balearic Islands were people deported from the U.S. We found no evidence that ICE was carrying out deportation flights to Spain or the Balearic Islands. It was possible that migrants deported to African nations could have since attempted to cross into Europe via the Mediterranean Sea but we found no evidence of this.
Sources:
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