Did Coca-Cola call ICE on its own immigrant workers? Viral claims debunked

In recent days, certain viral videos have sparked widespread confusion and outrage across social media. The videos claimed that Coca-Cola called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on its immigrant workers.

On February 8, 2025, videos circulated on TikTok featuring employment lawyer Trang Tran, who claimed that the multinational beverage giant had fired "thousands of Latin American workers" at the Cerberus Bottling Plant in Texas and then called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on them.

However, following scrutiny of the allegations by Snopes, it has been confirmed that the claims were untrue as no official, valid, or sufficient evidence was found to support these assertions.

This controversy follows a broader public backlash against the beverage company following former U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement in January 2025 that he would impose tariffs on imported goods from Mexico.

In response, Mexican Americans and other Latino communities initiated the "Freeze Latino Movement," calling for a boycott of major U.S. brands, including Coca-Cola.

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Coca-Cola did not call ICE on its own immigrant workers; the viral video explained

The lawyer's claims on TikTok (Image via TikTok/@overtimelawyer)

On Saturday, February 8, 2025, a video posted by employment lawyer Trang Tran went viral on TikTok, amassing over two million views. In the nearly two-minute video, Tran claimed Coca-Cola was in trouble for laying off thousands of Latin American workers.

He further alleged that the situation worsened when the multinational beverage giant reportedly turned over its employees to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after terminating them —

"But that's not the end of it. What made it worse was that they turned over their own employees to ICE after terminating," Tran said.

The video was captioned

"There's a federal statute that prohibits discrimination against employees based on their citizenship #cocacola."

It highlighted the layoffs' legal aspects, suggesting that Coca-Cola had violated federal labour laws by terminating employees based on national origin.

However, these claims are untrue, as there is no sufficient evidence to support the allegations of layoffs or reporting employees to ICE.

Given the beverage giant's size and global reach, such an event would have resulted in significant public disruption and widespread media coverage, neither of which took place. Furthermore, news outlets have not reported any such incidents.

To further discredit the claims, fact-checking organization Snopes reached out to Coca-Cola for a statement. In response, the company's spokesperson firmly denied the allegations, calling them "false" and dismissing the rumours —

"The accusation that The Coca-Cola Company called immigration authorities to assist in the separation of undocumented workers is unequivocally false," the spokesperson said.

ICE refers to an employer reporting an employee to U.S. immigration authorities, typically when the employer suspects the worker may be undocumented.

This practice can create fear and mistrust among employees, particularly within immigrant communities, and may be seen as retaliatory or punitive.

According to Statista, Coca-Cola had a substantial workforce of roughly 80,000 employees worldwide as of November 2024. The absence of reports regarding significant or minor layoffs further undermines the claims.

Additionally, the lack of widespread media coverage raises further doubts about the legitimacy of the allegations.

Moreover, lawyer Trang Tran has not yet responded to the claims made in his video or provided any explanation regarding the motivations behind his statements.