On March 1, 2024, Laura Ingraham, host of the Fox News primetime TV show "The Ingraham Angle," interviewed a woman named Jessica Jackson, who was identified on screen as being a "Chicago community organizer."
Near the end of the interview, Jackson repeated an unsubstantiated rumor, claiming that 100 migrants had attacked a security guard at a Home Depot store in Chicago. The incident purportedly took place on Feb. 20.
Hours earlier, Snopes had reported that this rumor was a hoax, after having contacted and confirmed the truth with both a manager at the Home Depot store and a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department. The false rumor had been virally shared online with the text, "SHOCK REPORT: 911 call reveals OVER 100 MIGRANTS attacking security officers at Chicago Home Depot."
Snopes reached out to Fox News by email to ask about the matter. A spokesperson for the news channel responded that Ingraham, in the next segment on the show, told viewers that they had looked into the rumor but were not able to confirm it. We also searched for a way to reach out to Jackson, but did not find any contact information or social media accounts, nor did we locate any organizations that Jackson might be associated with.
During the brief interview, Ingraham and Jackson discussed the topic of illegal immigration and the city of Chicago, including the fact that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle had recently pledged a combined $250 million in funding for migrants living in the city.
The moment when Jackson mentioned the hoax rumor played out as follows:
JACKSON: They're bringing their share of crime. Just, what was it? Last week? Over at the Home Depot on 87th off the Dan Ryan here. A very popular Home Depot where you have a lot of illegal immigrants that hang there to pick up work. It was a quiet story but somehow it got out that about 100 illegal immigrants beat up a security guard that works over there.
INGRAHAM: What!
JACKSON: You know, a lot of things are going on that don't make the news.
INGRAHAM: Jessica, you just brought me news. I thought I read everything about this type of crime. You just told me something I hadn't seen. I hope we can find video of that. Jessica, thank you so much for speaking out.
Minutes later, after a commercial break and at the end of the next segment, Ingraham added, "And by the way, we looked into that story mentioned by our previous guest about 100 'illegals' attacking security guards near Chicago. Well, we haven't been able to confirm it. But if we do, we will bring it to you."
A video of the interview was made available on FoxNews.com. Ingraham's follow-up at the end of the next segment was not included with the online video but is viewable via SnapStream or the Internet Archive.